What Steven Cousley Does

News and magazine articles regarding Wayne Carey seem to be popping up in the news media at an ever increasing rate these days. No matter what you might think of the guy, his name must still be good for selling a lot of newspapers and magazines. As Wayne is my cousin I do have a personal interest. Some of the stories may be true, some are full of unfounded or unproven accusations, some are just plain untrue.

Yes, Wayne did come from a broken home. Yes there are still tensions between the family members. Some of his siblings are closer to their mother, some are closer to their father. The latest news stories and the upcoming Andrew Denton interview on ABC TV, try to illicit opinions from “close” family members. Of course, what the interviewers seem to ignore, is that siblings closer to his mother, Lynette, would be expected to put Kevin down. On the other side of the coin, those close to Kevin, would be expected to side with him. This is hardly news.

Some of the latest stories from the past few days revolve around Wayne’s father, my Uncle Kevin. It seems that a journalist happened to come across Kevin while he was in a pub with his mates. To me this hardly seems to be a crime. When I am 67 I hope to be able to spend some time doing the same.

As often happens in such situations, after a few beers, he was quite vocal and freely gave his opinion of the whole Wayne saga and some of his other family members to boot. He stated that he is proud of his son but that lately Wayne has been acting like an idiot and a dickhead. I’m sure that most familiar with recent events would agree with that sentiment. He probably had a lot more to say on a lot of other matters too, but the journo’s would, of course, select just a few choice comments to build a story around.

Kevin Carey is no saint and he will tell you that himself. He does have a criminal history of minor offences. He will not deny it. He has been tried and convicted, he served his time. He has always enjoyed having a drink. He is a former boxer and footballer. He’s a larrikin by nature. When he gives you his word, you can be sure he means it. He is a tough character, it’s the way he grew up, it’s just the way he is. He tells it like it is, often in colourful language. Even more colourful after a few beers with his mates.

He raised his three youngest children. When the family was first seperated, Lynnette moved to Adelaide with 4 of their 5 children, the oldest son remained in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Wayne was 6 years old at the time. Later, the three younger children Karen, Wayne and Sammy were returned to their father because they wanted to be with him. Wayne’s football career began in Wagga, representing his region and state several times at the junior level. Around the age of 14, he returned to Adelaide to play football.

I have seen these simple facts stated incorrectly so many times in news stories that I have to question the depth of the research actually being done by the journalists. I have seen claims from people who supposedly knew Wayne when he was a 10 year old boy living in homeless shelters with his mother in Adelaide. It’s a nice story, too bad it isn’t true. Wayne was in Wagga Wagga with his father at the time. If his mother was still homeless after 3 years in Adelaide, it’s no wonder he wanted to be with his father. In todays news, the claim has been made that Kevin moved to Adelaide with the children when the family first seperated. Wrong again. It was many years later that he moved to Adelaide.

If the journo’s can’t get these simple facts right, it raises questions about the quality of the reporting. The saga has been dragging on so long it hardly seems newsworthy anymore. It’s certainly not new. There has to be a certain amount of dramatising, of sensationalising or the public is going to lose interest. The media is out to make some money, and the name Wayne Carey is obviously still selling newspapers.

What do you get when you put a bunch of Star Trek fans, actors and production staff together? This “fan-film” is a great example. It’s an unofficial (meaning non-Paramount) production produced by Star Trek enthusiasts as a tribute to Star trek and it’s 40 year history. The cast of “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men” includes a number of well known faces from the various Star Trek series as well as other fan productions, Tim Russ (who is also the director), Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Garret Wang, J G Hertzler, Chase Masterson, Ethan Phillips, Cirroc Lofton, James Cawley and a host of others.

This movie length production is being released in 3 parts, with parts 1 and 2 already available to watch online. Part 3 will be released soon. If you are a trek fan (or even if you’re not), visit the website to watch and/or to join in the fan forum to discuss this movie and anything else Trek related. You’ll find plenty more at Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

Don’t miss the blooper video available from the website front page, it’s good to see the lighter side and some of the fun the crew had together as well

Just to whet your appetite, the clip below is from the first 3 minutes, enjoy.

Just found some video of the latest version of a quadruped robot designed by U.S. robotics company, Boston Dynamics. The “BigDog” is designed to be used as a pack mule, carrying loads over rough terrain. The really impressive thing is the way this machine actually moves. It walks like an animal, (or as some would say, a four legged tarantula). Slopes, icy snow covered terrain, piles of bricks, no problem. Kick it in the guts and it stumbles, regains it’s balance and keeps on going.

Of course it cost in the region of ten million dollars to develop so it probably won’t be available off the shelf for a while, but I still want one. Have a look at the video, if you have time, also check the videos of the RHEX and LittleDog versions as well from the same company. Rhex can go almost anywhere, even underwater.

LittleDog is just cute. Even though it may have been designed for military use, I can really see a market for this one.

Anyway, here’s the video, enjoy

Watch RHEX go!

And here’s “LittleDog”

Time for a little history lesson. This is part of Australian history that is rarely (if at all) taught in schools. Unless you are a local of the Gundagai area in New South Wales, you’ve probably never even heard of Yarri. During the major floods in the year 1852, dozens of settlers from the Gundagai town were saved by two Wiradjuri men in simple bark canoes. Yarri, who was later joined by Jacky Jacky, over two days, paddled their canoes back and forth along the swollen Murrumbidgee river looking for surviviors.

In the early days of the Gundagai settlement, the local aboriginal people tried to warn the European settlers of the danger of building on the plain near to the river. The settlers ignored the warning. When the floods eventually happened, it was the Wiradjuri people that came to their rescue.

Today the flood plain is now named after Yarri, and there are a number of monuments to honour him within the town of Gundagai, which was later rebuilt on higher ground. You can read the whole story here Yarri – A Frontier Story

Here’s something a little heavier than usual to get into. A story about particle physics and how real science is conducted. Modern physicists on a quest to find what makes matter – matter. It’s all about a search for the “God particle”, otherwise known as the “Higgs Boson”.

The research essentially involves accelerating particles to velocities as close as possible to the speed of light and then smashing them together. We know (or at least, think we know) that matter can be converted to energy and conversely, energy can be converted to matter. Theoretically, smashing high velocity particles together will release a lot energy, some of this energy may then be converted to never before observed forms of sub-atomic particles, some of which, just might be Higgs Boson particles.

Now the theory goes that Higgs Boson particles, or the field that surrounds them, is what gives form to other sub-atomic particles. Without Higgs particles, all you have are packets of energy, with no mass. This Higgs field gives form to everything, permeates everything, gives substance to everything. Hence the God analogy. Higgs particles are everywhere. Well, that’s the simplified version of the theory, and it is just a theory, yet to be proved. These particles have never been observed.

Now the lengths humans will go too just to prove a theory are amazing. Check out the story here The Hunt For the God Particle

In fact, the researchers aren’t too concerned if they don’t find the God particles. They are certain they will still see evidence of some sort of never before seen sub-atomic particles. One version of their experiments hopes to create conditions just like those immediately after the Big Bang. Now that one does concern me a little. How can you create conditions like those after the Big Bang, without actually having a Big Bang?

Makes you think……doesn’t it?