For Everything there is a First Time



First single bought: Lebanon by The Human League


First CD bought: Ambient Moods – a compilation.


First love: Jackie Morgan – literally the girl next door


First lover: Trisha Jones (many years later).


First job: General office worker in Central London


First owned home: My present location


First time abroad: Skiing in the French Alps with the school aged 13-14


First degree: BA(Hons) Social Ethics with Educational Studies


First drink: Vodka from a plastic elephant (previously containing bath oil) provided by my best school friend Andy aged 9-10


First hangover: Aged 11-12 after drinking the dregs of every glass left behind from a party my Mum had in our new house. Understandably I was very ill.


First book (that I remember): Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner written in 1929. I think I must have been about 10 and remember that it had a profound impact on me. Oddly I didn’t start reading voraciously until about 4 years later when I was introduced to SF by a friend of my brother.


First concert: The Stranglers in 1983. I was a very late convert to live music.

Cartoon Time.

Cosmos may show echoes of events before Big Bang



By Jason Palmer for BBC News


27 November 2010


Evidence of events that happened before the Big Bang can be seen in the glow of microwave radiation that fills the Universe, scientists have asserted. Renowned cosmologist Roger Penrose said that analysis of this cosmic microwave background showed echoes of previous Big Bang-like events. The events appear as "rings" around galaxy clusters in which the variation in the background is unusually low. The unpublished research has been posted on the Arxiv website. The ideas within it support a theory developed by Professor Penrose - knighted in 1994 for his services to science - that upends the widely-held "inflationary theory". That theory holds that the Universe was shaped by an unthinkably large and fast expansion from a single point. Much of high-energy physics research aims to elucidate how the laws of nature evolved during the fleeting first instants of the Universe's being. "I was never in favour of it, even from the start," said Professor Penrose. "But if you're not accepting inflation, you've got to have something else which does what inflation does," he explained to BBC News. "In the scheme that I'm proposing, you have an exponential expansion but it's not in our aeon - I use the term to describe [the period] from our Big Bang until the remote future. I claim that this aeon is one of a succession of such things, where the remote future of the previous aeons somehow becomes the Big Bang of our aeon." This "conformal cyclic cosmology" (CCC) that Professor Penrose advocates allows that the laws of nature may evolve with time, but precludes the need to institute a theoretical beginning to the Universe.


Professor Penrose, of Oxford University, and his colleague Vahe Gurzadyan of Yerevan State University in Armenia, have now found what they believe is evidence of events that predate the Big Bang, and that support CCC. They looked at data from vast surveys of the cosmic microwave background - the constant, nearly uniform low-temperature glow that fills the Universe we see. They surveyed nearly 11,000 locations, looking for directions in the sky where, at some point in the past, vast galaxies circling one another may have collided. The supermassive black holes at their centres would have merged, turning some of their mass into tremendous bursts of energy. The CCC theory holds that the same object may have undergone the same processes more than once in history, and each would have sent a "shockwave" of energy propagating outward. The search turned up 12 candidates that showed concentric circles consistent with the idea - some with as many as five rings, representing five massive events coming from the same object through the course of history. The suggestion is that the rings - representing unexpected order in a vast sky of disorder - represent pre-Big Bang events, toward the end of the last "aeon". "Inflation [theory] is supposed to have ironed all of these irregularities out," said Professor Penrose. "How do you suddenly get something that is making these whacking big explosions just before inflation turns off? To my way of thinking that's pretty hard to make sense of." Shaun Cole of the University of Durham's computational cosmology group, called the research "impressive". "It's a revolutionary theory and here there appears to be some data that supports it," he told BBC News. "In the standard Big Bang model, there's nothing cyclic; it has a beginning and it has no end.


"The philosophical question that's sensible to ask is 'what came before the Big Bang?'; and what they're striving for here is to do away with that 'there's nothing before' answer by making it cyclical." Professor Cole said he was surprised that the statistical variation in the microwave background data was the most obvious signature of what could be such a revolutionary idea, however. "It's not clear from their theory that they have a complete model of the fluctuations, but is that the only thing that should be going on? There are other things that could be going on in the last part of the previous aeon; why don't they show even greater imprints?" Professors Penrose and Cole both say that the idea should be shored up by further analyses of this type, in particular with data that will soon be available from the Planck telescope, designed to study the microwave background with unprecedented precision. Planck will provide a plethora of data that may prove or disprove the idea.


[How fascinating. If there was no Big Bang – more of a series of small bangs – then no single event ‘created’ the Universe. With no act of ‘creation’ another prop (often the most strongly argued prop) supporting the idea of God falls away….. Damn those atheist scientists!]

Just Finished Reading: One Minute to Midnight – Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs

I do find it more than a little odd reading about an historical event I lived through. Not that I actually have any memory of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was after all only 2 ½ years old in October 1962. What became very clear in this fascinating volume was how close I came to not seeing my 3rd birthday.


I think that most of my regulars know something about the events that almost led up to the world’s first nuclear exchange. Cuba, no friend to the USA, was offered nuclear weapons by the Soviet Union in retaliation for American nukes based on their border with Turkey. A U2 spy plane spotted them before they had become operational and before Khrushchev could announce it to the world. The US responded with a naval blockade, frantic diplomacy and threats of both bombing the sites and an invasion of the island. After several tense days the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle the weapons and sail them home to Mother Russia. The world breathed a sigh of relief; I saw my 3rd birthday and the American nukes came home from Turkey.


Most of the above I was aware of before opening the pages of this book. What I was unaware of was the detail behind those headlines and just how close we came to nuclear war. Not through the acts of desperate or evil men but through accident, misunderstand and fear. Looking back almost 50 years it is difficult to credit just how unconnected the world was back then. At the height of the tensions created by the discovery of nuclear weapons a few hundred miles from American territory it sometimes took days – yes, days – for messages to travel between the major players. When life and death decisions for millions of people could be made in seconds it took hours – yes, hours – for information to pass between President Kennedy, Premier Khrushchev and the troops on the front line. What was even more interesting, to say nothing of disturbing, was the way that decisions on all three sides where being made in either the absence of information or based on the wrong information. From the God’s eye view of an author privy to details of conversations taking place in the White House, the Kremlin and in Havana the reader is allowed to see exactly what all three sides could not see. This ramped up the tension already inherent in a very tense story. Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, the reader is shown a number of isolated incidents that could, if treated differently, have caused buttons to be pressed and missiles to fly. When a U2 spy plane is shot down over Cuba and another strays into Soviet airspace, when a nuclear armed Russian submarine is forced to the surface captained by a man at the end of his tether and when a simulated attack on Miami is flashed to NORAD and believed, for a few moments, to be the real thing. All of these things could have been the final straw.


This is undoubtedly a masterful work of historical writing. Not many history books can claim to be gripping. This was definitely one of them. The first 30 pages set the scene over the preceding weeks. The next five chapters (about 150 pages) covered the time from October 22nd to ‘Black Saturday’ October 27th. You can imagine the amount of detail the author goes into. The next 260 pages cover the weekend of 27-28th October hoping back and forth between events in Washington, Moscow, Cuba and the various military commands. Giving an almost minute by minute account of the events in such a way that the tension is almost overwhelming, this seemed like one of the best political thrillers I’ve ever read – and yet it was all real, which made it both more mesmerising and more appalling. If you know something about the Missile crisis you need to read this book to fill in the gaps to your knowledge. If this incident is new to you then you really need to read this book to see just how close we came to nuclear annihilation. It is a frightening and sobering read but one I enjoyed a great deal. Highly recommended.

Cartoon Time.

My Favourite Movies: The Book of Eli



Sorry, but I’m back to the ultra-modern stuff again. I was actually in two minds (come to think of it more that two) about seeing this at the cinema. Despite being a big fan of Denzel and of end-of-the-world films, I was getting a little sick of the genre. I had also discovered that the movie had a religious – actually Christian – theme which might stick in my craw. But I bit the bullet and went along with the usual posse and felt that I could grit my teeth in the appropriate places if required. Fortunately I hardly needed to grit them at all.


In the movie the world we know and love had ended some decades previously. Although it’s never actually explained it appears to have suffered through a nuclear war of some kind. One of the first scenes appears to take place in fall-out with Washington (the man rather than the city) wearing a NBC ‘noddy’ suit – which seemed rather odd as its years after the bombs fell. Anyway, Denzel is making his way through a wonderfully filmed desolate landscape going west. Along the way he meets up with some people who try to take his things. Needless to say it does not go well for the bad-guys. On reaching a town recovering from the devastation we are presented with the figure of Gary Oldman who plays the brutal leader of biker gangs tasked with bringing back books. Oldman is looking for a specific book and soon discovers that Denzel holds a copy – maybe the only copy left in existence. The book is, we quickly discover, the Bible. Washington explains, to his tag-along runaway (played by Mila Kunis) that a voice spoke to him soon after the bombs fell directing him to the Bible and telling him to take it West. This he has been doing for many years. After adventures and misadventures Denzel and Mila deliver the book to Alcatraz (of all places) which has become a repository of the world’s knowledge.


There were several things that I immediately liked very much about this movie. Firstly, the cinematography was outstanding with washed out colours and utter desolation everywhere. Both Washington and Oldman played their parts wonderfully and were a delight separately and especially together when sparks flew. The supporting cast were adequate and largely disposable – indeed largely disposed of by Washington. Cute as she is, Mila Kunis really only plays Mila Kunis and is not that much different from the ungrateful character Jackie in ‘That 70’s Show’. The music was haunting and occasionally spiced up by tunes from Washington’s barely functioning iPod. The action sequences were well handled except for the laughable siege set-piece with the eccentric cannibal husband and wife team played by Frances de la Tour and Michael Gambon which really should have been left on the cutting room floor.


From a philosophical point of view I did struggle with the idea that future generations would be able to build a better world with the Bible in it rather than without it. After all, a Bible inhabiting world had just been practically destroyed. I also struggled with the idea that a God could take such efforts in guiding someone across America, on foot, and giving him the skills to survive for decades in the harshest of environments whilst at the same time condemning billions of people to death in a nuclear holocaust. Of course none of these questions raised their heads during the movie. If God was dissatisfied with his human creations I’m sure there’s a more discriminating way of dealing with them than ICBM’s and MIRVs – but then again I’m not God so who knows! Overall though this was a very creditable end-of-the-world movie which worked for me on several levels. The problems I did have with it, which are the result of over-thinking things a bit, are minor in relation to the enjoyment I had from watching it. It’s certainly worth a mite less than 2 hours of your time if you haven’t seen it already.

Cartoon Time.

Life is found in deepest layer of Earth's crust


By Michael Marshall for New Scientist

18 November 2010

IT'S crawling with life down there. A remote expedition to the deepest layer of the Earth's oceanic crust has revealed a new ecosystem living over a kilometre beneath our feet. It is the first time that life has been found in the crust's deepest layer, and an analysis of the new biosphere suggests life could exist lower still.

On a hypothetical journey to the centre of the Earth starting at the sea floor, you would travel through sediment, a layer of basalt, and then hit the gabbroic layer, which lies directly above the mantle. Drilling expeditions have reached this layer before, but as the basalt is difficult to pierce it happens rarely. To facilitate the task, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme set its sights on the Atlantis Massif. Tectonic activity beneath this submerged mountain in the central Atlantic Ocean has pushed the gabbroic layer within 70 metres of the sea floor, making it easier to reach. A team led by Stephen Giovannoni of Oregon State University in Corvallis drilled down to 1391 metres, where temperatures reach 102 °C.

There, they found communities of bacteria that were sparse but widespread. The type of bacteria they found came as a surprise to Giovannoni, who has previously found micro-organisms living in the basalt layer. "We expected to find similar organisms in the deeper layer," he says. "But actually it was very different. "One key difference was that archaea were absent in the gabbroic layer. Also, genetic analysis revealed that unlike their upstairs neighbours, many of the gabbroic bugs had evolved to feed off hydrocarbons like methane and benzene. This is similar to the bacteria found in oil reservoirs and contaminated soil, which could mean that the bacteria migrated down from shallower regions rather than evolving inside the crust, the team say.

"This deep biosphere is a very important discovery," says Rolf Pedersen of the University of Bergen, Norway. He points out that the reactions that produce oil and gas abiotically inside the crust could happen in the mantle, meaning life may be thriving deeper yet.

[Maybe if life evolved on Mars, before it lost its atmosphere and surface water, it migrated deep underground and we’ll eventually find it there, safe from the UV rays and freezing temperatures on the surface.]

The Future's bright.......

Just Finished Reading: Surface Detail by Iain M Banks



Lededje Y’breq was born Intagliated. Her body had been genetically manipulated before birth to produce incredibly intricate patterns on every inch of her skin. This was not her choice or that of her parents. For Lededje is part of a payment for their debt to the most powerful person on their world. As she grew up she began to realise just what she was – property. When her last escape from servitude and sexual abuse goes wrong, she is murdered by her patron and owner. Apparently moments later she awakes inside a virtual reality simulation thousands of light years away on a Culture ship. Offered the chance to be revented – given a new and almost perfect body – she jumps at the chance of another life and the opportunity to return to her home world with revenge in mind. But bigger things are happening. There has been a war in heaven – fought across virtual space – which has been ragging for 30 years between two groups who are deeply opposed to each others ideologies. One faction opposes the existence of virtual Hell’s where self-aware avatars of the dead are sent to suffer eternal torment. The other faction passionately believes that the fear of Hell is the only thing keeping whole civilisations together. As Ledeje approaches her home for a final confrontation, the virtual war is in danger of erupting into the Real and at the centre of everything is her patron and killer.


As soon as I saw that the latest Culture novel was out I had to have it. No way was I going to wait until March 2011 for the paperback! So I stumped up about twice what I’d normally pay (with the shops £5 discount helping) to read it now rather than later. I have to say that it was worth every single penny. The brief synopsis above does the book very little justice. This is a very complex book bursting with amazing ideas. It is also much darker than previous Culture based novels. For one thing there seems to be an inordinate amount of swearing – largely I have to say completely in context. For another the main protagonist Ledeje has a history of sexual abuse from her early teens. Added to this are large sections taking place in one of the alien virtual Hell’s which are both deeply disturbing and frequently stomach turning. In many ways this is definitely not a book for the young or the faint of heart. As to be expected with Bank’s Culture novels the characters, ships (which are very much characters in themselves), aliens and environments are amazingly real. I would love the opportunity to live in the Culture – even for a short time and experience that kind of awesome advanced civilisation. I love it so much that it’s quite painful to return to reality – this mundane world – with a bump after being ensconced between the pages of such a sublime novel for the best part of a week. I do honestly miss it – although it does live inside my head now. One of the odd things missing from his latest novel is the many autonomous (and often very funny) drones that make up part of the Culture citizenry. However, this is more than made up for by the inclusion of a seriously strange and obviously deranged (indeed probably psychotic) Culture warship that agrees to carry Ledeje to her destination. Always up for a good fight – and particularly up for a bad one – it never ceased to both entertain and appal me. It was brilliant! Just never get on its wrong side. I loved this book, as I have with all of his Culture novels to a greater or lesser degree, and am pleased to see that it won’t be his last. I’m already looking forward to the next instalment.

Cartoon Time.