Traveling

Cheryl and I got engaged during a trip to San Francisco in 1979, got married later in the year, and then went to Austria for our honeymoon. So travel was something we loved right from the start. Then we moved to Michigan so I could go to Graduate School at the University of Michigan, and that was the end of travel for a while. Grad students are chronically poor, and new Assistant Professors are only marginally better off. But I eventually left academia for a more lucrative career as a Project Manager, and in 2015 I got hired in at Ford Motor Credit. So in the fall of 2015 we took a trip to Ireland in the company of my brother Dennis and his wife Lyra. And that got us back into it.

We always said that we wanted to travel more when retired, and we have. In 2016 we took a Boat and Bike trip through the Netherlands and Belgium. In 2017 we took our niece Erin with us on a trip out west to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Utah, and Colorado. In 2018 we started preparing for planned RV travels by renting an RV in Suttons Bay, Michigan for a week. And in 2019, when Ford decided they could somehow manage to get along without me and few thousand other employees, I retired but we took a planned 40th anniversary trip: a Viking River Cruise along the Rhine River. When we returned from that, we were not yet ready to go RVing, but I had promised Cheryl a break from the cold winters, so we booked a Caribbean Cruise with MSC. We were lucky, we got that in just before the Covid pandemic hit. But for the rest of 2020, and most of 2021, we were doing what a lot of other people were doing, wearing face masks and trying to stay safe. But by the end of 2021, we had purchased an RV and a truck to tow it with, and we had been vaccinated, so we ventured out on an RV trip. This took us to the Southwest for several months, and we really enjoyed it. Plus it was much warmer than Michigan.

Then in 2022 we took another Viking River Cruise, this time on the Danube River, where we learned you don’t want to travel to Europe in summer if you can avoid it, at least anywhere south of Scandinavia. And in the fall we took another trip to Ireland with family, again including Dennis and Lyra, and this time with my sister Eileen. And in December we took off on another RV trip, this time to the Southeast of the U.S. Then it was a week in Hawaii, two weeks in Spain, and a week in Colorado. This caused us to cancel another RV trip, and in 2024 we sold the RV and the truck. But in the fall of 2024 we spent a month in France, and were joined for part of the trip by my sister Eileen and her son Felix. And while we were in Paris, we got an e-mail about a good deal, so we booked a 2025 trip to Spain and Portugal for 9 days. Later on in 2025 we plan a short trip to New york City so I can perform with a group at Carnegie Hall, and then we have booked a cruise of the Eastern Mediterranean, from Venice to Athens.

I know this makes it sound like we are fantastically wealthy, but we aren’t at all. We do two things pretty well. First, we look for bargains. This does not mean always the lowest possible price, though we have done well in that regard. It means the best value for money. That Hawaii trip, for instance, was largely paid for by spending an afternoon fending off a time-share salesman. So we had to buy round-trip airfare, and about $1000 for a room on Waikiki Beach. And the two weeks in Spain in 2023 was done using an exchange for the time share we inherited from Cheryl’s parents. Our two trips to Ireland and our recent Spain and Portugal trip were purchased through Great Value Vacations, which has fantastic deals. Our Caribbean Cruise was through Vacations to Go, which specializes in cruise deals. And because we are retired, we can jump on a deal on short notice if it comes up.

The other thing we did well is to decide on our priorities. I drive a 2012 car, and Cheryl drives a 2008 car. Our home is modest, and completely paid off. At this point in our lives, more “things” is just a burden, so we use what money we have to obtain experiences and memories. Every Sunday we go out to breakfast together, and spend the time looking at different travel ideas. We bring travel brochures, a laptop, and a tablet, and look at how we can do things within our budget. And we talk to other people to pick their brains. On our recent trip to Spain and Portugal, Mike and Lorrie mentioned TravelZoo, but after looking at the reviews we decided it was not a good bet. But Bernie and Jan mentioned Caravan Tours, and they had great reviews and some itineraries we loved. So what are we looking at for 2026 and beyond?

Right now we are waiting to hear about a Church-sponsered trip to Rome that our friend Don told us about. This would be a guided trip, and hit a few places outside of Rome as well. But since we first expressed interest we haven’t heard much. I hope it does happen, and for an affordable price, and that would be my first choice. But if that falls through, our next choice would be a Caravan Tours guided trip to South Dakota and Yellowstone. It starts in Rapid City, South Dakota, goes to Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse memorial, then to Little Bighorn Battlefield. Then to Yellowstone Park, the Grand Tetons, Jackson, and finally ending in Salt Lake City. All you need to add is airfare and a few meals, and their charge starts at $2395 per person. This is relatively inexpensive, and allows us to save up some money for a bigger trip the following year. And that would be the Road Scholar tour of Egypt and Jordan. This is a 15 night guided tour, with most meals and airfare from selected cities included. And it is very nice. The trip starts in Amman, Jordan, takes you to several historic sites in Jordan, and works down to the Dead Sea, and finally Petra! Then it is off to Cairo, the Great Pyramids, a boat trip on the Nile to the Valley of the Kings and theTemples before returning to Cairo. For me this is once in a lifetime trip. It is more expensive at $6399 per person, but I think we can save that much by the end of 2026 if we are careful. It is more expensive, but the value is really high.

And then, if we are happy with our Caravan Tours experience, there is a tour in Mexico that looks very interesting. It is called Mexico Ancient Civilizations. It is a 9 day guided tour that starts in Mexico City and ends in Cancún, and it focuses on Native history, such as Teotihuacan, the Olmec Heads at La Venta, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichén Itzá. Most meals are included, but airfare is not. But the whole package is a very reasonable $1495 per person.

So, this is what we are looking at for our future travel. I think is quite exciting.

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Terraformers

I have been getting into a new game lately, which is called Terraformers. It is a turn-based strategy game that is all about terraforming Mars. It is available on a number of platforms, but I bought it on GOG (Good Old Games), which is one of the two platforms (the other is Steam) that I tend to use. I find the gameplay very attractive, and the game is built with a lot of replayability in mind. You can start out with a good tutorial game that introduces you to the basic concepts, but you might want to supplement this with a written manual, which you can download from the Steam community. I think it would appeal to anyone who enjoys games that involve building things.

You start with single city on Mars, and then you explore to find resources which can help you to expand your Mars colony. You can develop trade routes that let you trade any resources you have a lot of for resources you are lacking, and you need to do this because everything you do in the game uses resources of one kind or another. Balancing all of your resource demands is a key part of the game. But there is another balancing act you have to master, and that is how happy your colonists are (called Support in the game). Support can be though of as a resource as well, and some things can add to your support, and others subtract from it. Just make sure your support never falls to zero or it is Game Over.

As you win games on lower levels, additional content is unlocked that you can use on higher levels. And there are several DLC packages available as well. You can check it out for free by downloading a demo version called Terraformers: First Steps on Mars, and if you like it, the basic game package is only $9.99 at this time. which is pretty reasonable as I think you can get more than $9.99 worth of entertainment from it.

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My Review of The Courts of Chaos

The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Well, finally a story wraps up, and it is a good one. Corwin has moved from the center of things to some extent with the return of Oberon, and is now sulking in the Library, but Random talks him into leaving and taking an interest in things. Dara now appears as Oberon’s messenger with instructions for everyone in the family. And from Random’s son Martin, Corwin learns that he has a son named Merlin who will take center stage with the next set of novels.

Oberon is going to try and repair the pattern that Brand disrupted, but Corwin steals the Jewel and tries to do it himself. He is stopped before he can make the attempt by Oberon and Dworkin. Oberon instead takes a little of Corwin’s blood and turns it into a red raven that will accompany Corwin. They have a final talk, and Corwin tells Oberon he no longer is interested in the throne of Amber. He mostly wanted it in competition with Eric, and now that Eric is gone he knows he is not right for it. Oberon tells him he has to Hell Ride to the Courts of Chaos, and to bring the Jewel to the battle there, but first Oberon needs it to try the repair of the Pattern. The other members of the family have their instructions to gather their armies and go to the battle.

While on his ride, Corwin is visited by the red raven who brings him the Jewel, but he does not know at first whether Oberon succeeded in repairing the pattern or died in the attempt, but as the monster storm gathers it looks like Oberon failed. Corwin is able to create a new pattern, but when he falls exhausted Brand appears and takes the Jewel. So now Corwin has to go the Battle and find Brand and get the Jewel back somehow. He finds Brand, and so do the others, but Corwin is better attuned to the Jewel and uses it to burn Brand, before an arrow kills Brand, and he and the Jewel go into a chasm.

Oberon’s face appears in the sky and tells them that the decision of who is to rule in Amber will be left to the horn of the unicorn. The unicorn duly appears, with the Jewel hanging from its horn, and places the Jewel in front of Random. Corwin helps Random to become attuned to the Jewel, and Random disperses the storm.

This ends the 5 novel “Corwin Cycle” of Amber, to be followed by the 5 novel “Merlin Cycle”. It is a very satisfying ending that ties up a lot of loose ends, and is well worth a read. But at the very least you have to commit to reading all 5 novels to get any value out of this. It is really one long novel divided into 5 parts. But if you like fantasy, give it a shot. Zelazny is fantastic writer, and I have never regretted reading any of his work. I even got to hear him read from one of his novels (A Night In The Lonesome October) at a local science fiction convention some years ago.



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My Review of The Hand of Oberon

The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Basically, so far every book in the series makes a turn that renders what you thought you knew to be wrong and making everything appear in a new light. There are some clues here to what is going on, but you need to be paying careful attention to pick them up. Otherwise, you will get that complete turn on the next book.

Corwin has come to realize that he really does not want the throne of Amber, but he does feel some responsibility for setting things right. Part of it comes from the curse he placed on Amber previously, which he thinks may haver caused, or at contributed to, the black road and the corruption of the Pattern. When he, Ganelon, and Random go to the original Pattern, they see objects at the center which Ganelon retrieves, and they prove to be a dagger and a Trump, which Random realizes depicts his son Martin. The Trump was stabbed by the dagger, and they realize that it was drawn by Brand, who must have used it lure Martin there and stab him, with his blood causing the corruption of the Pattern and the Black Road. So now it completely clear that Brand is the enemy they neeed to defeat.

Corwin can see what needs to happen, but he requires the Jewel, which he had hidden in the Earth shadow. But when he gets there he discovers that Brand got there ahead of him. But Brand needs to walk the Pattern with the Jewel before he can be completely attuned to it. So the main objective now is make sure Brand cannot do that. They place guards at all of the Pattern sites, and Corwin first has a crack at Brand. He is succeeding when Brand is able to “teleport” away in some fashion. Then Benedict confronts him in Tir-na Nog’th, and despite being immobilized by Brand, his metal arm (which came from Tir-na Nog’th) moves of its own volition the wrest the Jewel from Brand.

This is another good chapter in the overall 10-book cycle that is Amber, but like all of them it does not stand alone. You have to read all of them, in order, to get the full effect, and if you cannot commit to that you probably should not even start. If you can make that commitment, though, it is worth your investment as Zelazny is a very good writer.



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My Review of Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years

Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years by Peter Haining

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Peter Haining is a well-known author in the world of Doctor Who, and this book is part of the reason. As you might infer from the title, it was published in 1988 for the 25th anniversary of Doctor Who. It has a lot of good information concerning those first 25 years, but do not expect to read anything critical beyond some mild criticism of the hiatus in the middle of Colin Baker’s run. This reads like a release from the BBC publicity department: everyone is brilliant, the decisions were all sound, and no mistakes were ever made. That said, it deserves a place on the bookshelf of any Doctor Who fan.

Since the Doctor at the time of this book was Sylvester McCoy, it is not surprising that he gets a little more attention than the other Doctors, but all of them are covered. In addition, there is some discussion of the various companions and many of the guest stars. Other chapters address the various merchandise you could have gotten (mostly Dalek figures), Doctor Who in the comics, and the status of the lost episodes at the time it was written (some additional episodes have been discovered since, thankfully). And the many photographs are a welcome addition. So if you see a copy, pick it up. I think you will like it.



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My Review Of “Capital in the Twenty-first Century”

Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is an important contribution to the economic analysis of a major issue of our times, inequality. In a time when non-economists are comfortable talking about the 1% and the 99%, it is clear that this issue has moved into the forefront of social thinking in the 21st century. But even though the title promises an analysis of the 21st century, Piketty begins with an historical look, primarily at England and France. And he uses an interesting and hitherto ignored data source, literature. By looking that the novels of Jane Austen and Gustave Flaubert he brings in the assumptions that these novelists had about the nature of wealth and income in these societies. The point here is that inequality of income and wealth are not new results of our time, they are the natural outcomes of laws of economics. His fundamental law involves the rate of return on capital (r) and the growth rate of the economy (g) and he shows that the historical data support an average return on capital of 4-5%, and an average growth rate of the economy of 1-1.5%. And from this he works out that as long as r is greater than g, there will be tendency for wealth to concentrate and accumulate.

This is not healthy for society and cannot proceed indefinitely. Something will come along to restore the balance. In the late 18th century, this would be the French Revolution, followed by the Napoleonic Wars. In the 20th century, two World Wars very effectively wiped out a lot of accumulated wealth. But the inequality is rapidly growing again, as r>g would stipulate, and the growing class of multi-billionaires and increasing numbers of trillion+ companies give evidence. So how will we restore the balance this time? Piketty’s answer is that we should do this by a graduated tax on wealth, which is surely preferable to another World War, particularly with the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

This is a long book, and may be bit heavy going, but I think it is worth the investment of time and effort. Piketty is making the observation that a democratically-controlled tax policy of taxes on wealth to restrain the runaway accumulation is better than any alternative. And while I have joked about eating the rich from time to time, I doubt they would be tasty or particularly nutritious.




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My Review of “Doctor Who: The Early Years”

Doctor Who: The Early Years by Jeremy Bentham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This large-format paperback does what the title says. It starts with Sydney Newman, the father of Doctor Who, who came from Canada to eventually wind up as Head of Drama at the BBC. He had an idea for a show about a mysterious character who traveled through time and space in a ship that was bigger on the inside than on the outside. When no one at the BBC wanted to be the producer he grabbed a young lady who had been a production assistant for him at ITV, and talked her into being the producer. That of course is Verity Lambert, who went on to a very successful career in TV and film production. Then they had to assemble a cast, and a production team, and get the show going. The book discusses all of this and is a good introduction to this historical material. This is useful, but honestly there is nothing in this that is really unique.
Then the book goes into discussions of selected stories from the run of the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell. It isn’t all of the stories, but it mostly picks the ones that are significant to get this attention. It is the illustrations that make this book something you want to have in your library if you are a fan. While there are a few color photos, most are in black-and-white, but then so was the show itself in this time. What you will particularly enjoy are the production drawings and models, and the discussion in particular of Raymond Cusick, the Production Designer for some of the most important stories including “The Daleks”. I am rating this 4 stars out of 5 and recommended for the true Doctor Who fan.



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Battery and Charging Technology 20240128

It has become obvious to nearly everyone that we need to stop burning fossil fuels, and while that is all well and good, what takes their place? We have renewable energy sources that can provide electricity to run our vehicles and power our homes, but they tend to be intermittent. The Sun only shines half of the day, winds come and go, and the key technology we need to bridge the gap is battery technology. Fortunately there have been some important developments that provide good news on this front. Much of this comes from China which has no oil resources of its own is and is therefor incentivized push research into alternatives. And another country in a similar situation is Japan, which has the same incentives and has also done good work in this area. The United States, in contrast, is a major oil producer and as such has faced significant opposition to efforts to move to renewables.

One major area we need to look at is for automobiles. The share of new vehicles that are electric goes up each year, and they will be the largest share of new vehicles sooner than most people realize. In 2023, Norway had 90% of their sales be EVs in the first half of 2023. This figure includes both pure electric vehicles and hydrid-electric vehicles. In Germany the comparable figure was 35%, and in China 33% (https://fortune.com/2023/11/23/us-electric-vehicle-sales-2023-record/). Meanwhile, California and Washington have mandated that 100% of new vehicles be electric by 2035,. New Jersey has a similar mandate and I would expect other states will join in this. But the main obstacle to increased adoption is what is called “range anxiety”. For example, most electric cars right now have around a 300 mile top range on a full charge. And recharging can take up to an hour at a time. I do a trip each year from my home in Michigan to New England, where most of the family for both me and my wife live, and that is around 800 miles. So that would mean stopping at least twice going each way for up to an hour for a recharge. The solution has to be some combination of higher capacity batteries and quicker recharging times. Fortunately there is progress on both of these fronts.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co, Ltd. (CATL)

This is the largest battery manufacturer in the world, and it is a Chinese company. For that reason, there are accusations in the US that they are a security concern. But the rest of the world is not likely to worry too much about that. What they have done technically is to improve the capacity and charging times of their batteries significantly. They now are shipping batteries that power a car for 400km (about 250 miles) on just a 10 minute charge. So for my trip each year I would spend 30 minutes recharging instead of two hours. That starts to look like a feasible plan. Or with a full charge, it could go 700km (435 miles). So I could get a full charge before leaving home, do a couple of 10 minute charges on the way, and be there with power to spare. That is totally doable. As a pair of senior citizens I can assure you we spend more time than that in the bathrooms as we go. These batteries are fairly conventional as rechargeables go, being Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LIP) in their chemistry. But what about other technologies?

Solid-State Batteries

One of the leaders with this technology is Toyota, which is the early leader in hybrid vehicles, which combine a gasoline (petrol) engine with batteries and electric motors. So they have probably more automotive experience with batteries than any manufacturer in the business, even though they are a bit later to the fully-electric vehicle market. Solid-state batteries can avoid using Lithium, which can be a safety issue, and they will be lighter and have a higher energy density. Because this is new technology, it may not appear in production for another 3-4 years, but Toyota claims they should be able to produce a car that will go 1200km (750 miles) on a 10 minute charge. Here is a look at Toyota’s plans: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45942785/toyota-future-ev-battery-plans/.

Of course, Toyota is far from the only company researching this. Honda is the main competitor to Toyota in Hybrid vehicles, and they have plans for solid-state batteries as well: https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid-state_battery_technology/. Chinese manufacturer NIO has a semi-solid state battery right now that can go 650 miles (1046 km) on a single charge.

It is worth noting that the idea of solid-state batteries is not all that new, as Michael Faraday first discovered them in the early 19th century. What is new is the technology to scale up the batteries into something that can power an automobile.

For as good look at how solid-state batteries work, here is an explanation from the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences: https://seas.harvard.edu/news/2024/01/solid-state-battery-design-charges-minutes-lasts-thousands-cycles. And here is one from New Scientist: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2398896-what-are-solid-state-batteries-and-why-do-we-need-them. And here is Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_battery.

Other Technologies

BYD is a Chinese company that is the world’s largest EV producer. They employ a technology that is called the Blade battery. This is a variation on LIP technology that the company claims is safer, has a longer range, and a longer lifetime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_battery.

Sodium-ion batteries are a coming thing as well. This is not surprising since Sodium and Lithium are in the same chemical family both being alkali metals. So they should have similar properties. But one advantage of sodium is that it is more abundant. So sodium-ion batteries should cost less, and unlike lithium produce no toxic by-products. The Swedish company Northvolt has made great progress in this area: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/21/breakthrough-battery-from-sweden-may-cut-dependency-on-china.

Role for Government

The biggest problem is the lack of infrastructure around battery recharging, and that is where there is a role for government. In the US, which I am most familiar with, the government has in the past intervened to promote transportation innovations. In the 19th century, it was the promotion of railroads, which the government aided through substantial land grants. Then in the 20th century it was building the road network. Those things would not have happened if the government had not made those investments. I would suggest that there is a need now to build out the charging infrastructure at a speed and scale that the private sector cannot accomplish. That would solve the last problem preventing wide-spread adoption of Electric Vehicles. Companies are now producing, or will be shortly, the batteries we need. Right now, with my fuel-efficient car, it takes me two tanks of gasoline (petrol) to make my trip each year since I can go around 500 miles on a full tank. We should within the next few years have batteries that can exceed that range. What we lack is the charging infrastructure to make recharging as easy as refueling is now. The obstacle now is not technology, it is politics.

The other issue that should be a concern to some Americans is that all of the leading work on these vital technologies is happening in other countries. I’m less concerned about that because the problems we face are global, but I find it odd that some American politicians consider technology from China to be a security threat, yet seem to have no interest in developing the technology here.

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My Review of Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader’s Companion

Robert A. Heinlein : A Reader’s Companion by James Gifford

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is an excellent book, but not exactly a page turner. What it does is provide the metadata for nearly everything (Some things have come out sine it was written) that Heinlein wrote. It will tell youwhen a piece was written, when it was published, where it has been collected, the circumstances surrounding the writing of it, and any “Curiosities and Anomalies” he finds in the piece. As such, it is not a book to be read in a sitting, but rathere one to be kept by the bookshelf and consulted when reading a Heinlein story or novel. And so it is really only for the hardcore Heinlein fan. Since there are still many such in the science fiction public, it has an audience, but if you are not a hardcore fan I would skip it in favor of something more congenial. I happen to be a hardcore Heinlein fan and consider this an important part of my collection.



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My Review Of Sign of the Unicorn

Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So the story continues, but oddly. The previous book left off on a real cliff-hanger, and this one picks up in the future with no real explanation of how the cliff-hanger was resolved. Seriously, the antagonists were facing each other with swords drawn, and now nothing? Corwin is now the King in Amber, and Eric is dead, but it happened when they were allied against the dark powers threatening Amber, and Eric gives Corwin key information to help him. Then this story takes us into what I can only analogize as Game of Thrones territory, where every member of the family seems to be making shifting alliances and opposition. One member has been held captive, but they manage to bring him back, only to have him be attacked as the rescue is accomplished. At the end, the nature of Amber is called into question. This makes abundantly clear that this series needs to be read as a whole, and not as individual novels for it to make any sense.



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