Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

Several people asked me what it meant when I tweeted “Rudd and Turnbull on qanda. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”.

QandA is of course the ABC TV talk show on which both former PM Kevin Rudd and former Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull were guests on Monday 19 November 2012. Although on opposite sides of the political spectrum, it was interesting to see how two individuals holding some strongly opposing views could still have a civilised and rationale debate and even find some common ground.

My Tweet was triggered by a question from an audience member who asked the two popular adversaries why they didn’t join forces and set up their own political party.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra is an expression from the Tamarian language featured in the Star Trek episode “Darmok”. It captured my interest with its exploration of the relationship between language and meaning.

The Tamarian language does not use vocabulary, syntax and grammar to communicate meaning. Instead it uses historical references, literary allusions and metaphor. Thus, although the computers can translate the words that the Tamarians speak, they can’t translate the actual meaning. To understand what the Tamarians are saying, i.e. what they mean, you have to know that culture’s history, legends, mythology, folklore, allegories and possibly their holy stories.

During this episode, Captain Dathon, a Tamarian, and Captain Picard are stranded on the surface of an alien planet El-Adrel where they are in danger of attack from a vicious creature. Although the translator devices can render the speaker’s words accurately, neither can understand what the other actually means because of the different ways in which the two languages work.

When Capt. Dathon offers Picard one of two daggers, uttering the words, “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”, Picard thinks he is challenging him to a duel. In fact, Dathon is alluding to a myth or legend about two heroes, Darmok and Jalad, rivals or enemies, who find themselves in a perilous situation on an island called Tanagra, who have to cooperate in order to defeat a monster and survive. Thus, when Dathon utters the expression "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra", he is saying “Let’s cooperate”, or “Let’s join forces to fight the creature”.

The sequence of scenes where it gradually begins to dawn on Picard how the Tamarian language works and he begins to understand and tentatively communicate with Dathon, is a minor masterpiece of filmic storytelling and acting.

Dathon is fatally injured in the battle with the creature. As he is dying, Picard tells him in Tamarian-type language the parallel Earth legend of Gilgamesh, where former foes Gilgamesh and Enkidu combine forces to deafeat the monsterous Bull of Heaven at Uruk and, like Dathon, Enkidu sacrifices his life for the greater good.

Picard returns to his own ship, and using Tamarian metaphor, begins to recount to the crew of the alien ship what happened between him and Dathon. One of the Tamarian crew exclaims: “Sokath, his eyes uncovered!” an allusion meaning something like “He understands”; “At last he gets it!”

Thus: Rudd and Turnbull on QandA. Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk. Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.

Syngas Follow-up

Back in September last year, I wrote a post about a submission I had written for Syngas, which won them R&D funding for field trials for the collection of waste biomass for use as a potential supplementary energy feedstock.  Afterwards, I edited the Report of the field trials.

The client has since created a renewable/clean energy subsidiary company to progress this work and has recently published this short film about the field trials. Stay with it through the introduction and brief powerpoint presentation to get to the live footage of the on-farm trials.

It’s great to see the fascinating work they did with the funding that my submission helped win for them and to actually see the activities and outcomes that the Report described.

Time Flies

When I was born on this very day not so many years ago, a pint of beer cost eleven pence. A loaf of bread was four pence ha’penny and a pound of butter cost one shilling and four pence.

King George VI was on the throne, Harry S. Truman was President of the United States and Ben Chifley was Prime Minister of Australia. The Governor-General was Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Thomas Playford IV was Premier of South Australia. Clement Atlee was Prime Minister of Britain and Winston Churchill was Leader of the Opposition.

You could buy a three bedroom house for £1,365 and an average car for £372, a bit more than the average annual wage of £348. A gallon of petrol cost two shillings and a penny ha’penny and 20 cigarettes were one and ten. The Australian pound was worth 16 UK shillings. One UK pound would buy $4 US.

The most popular band that year was The Ink Spots, the most popular singer was Perry Como, the most popular song of the year was “Love Letters” and the best musical was “Annie Get Your Gun”.

In that year “Foundation Day” was renamed “Australia Day”, Trans Australia Airlines made its first flight, the movie The Overlanders was released starring Chips Rafferty. The first Tupperware was sold in department and hardware stores and the electric blanket was invented.

The first meeting of the United Nations was held in London and Project Diana bounced radar waves off the Moon, measuring the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon and proving that communication is possible between Earth and outer space, effectively opening the space age.

Also born that year were Bon Scott, Tim Fischer, John Hewson (former Federal politician), Alan Jones (racing driver) and John Bertrand (yachtsman who skippered Australia II to America’s Cup Victory).

On the actual day I was born, Ho Chi Minh, future President of North Vietnam, left Paris after being forced into signing an unfavorable agreement with France, nine men who escaped from Stalag Luft III received MBEs in Britain, and Reuben Fogg was born, although it would be some years before we eventually met.

Bikes for Humanity

Sponsoring my daughter in the Sydney City2Surf Run to raise money for a great little charity "Bikes for Humanity".

They send shipping containers of bikes from us (when we upgrade) to people in Africa who can use them to get to study or work or to lighten the load of carrying stuff.

We just moved the river aside...

Some of the Tunnel documents

“So we just moved the river to one side, built the motorway tunnel through the river bed, then put the river back on top”.

It was the Project Manager speaking, explaining the basic concept for building a motorway tunnel underneath the major river in Singapore – a sort of engineer’s poetry.

The actual project was of course huge and took several years to complete. It generated masses of paperwork and it is strangely absorbing to edit the reams of reports and follow-up documentation.

Speech at Daughter's Wedding - 17 March 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ann and I would like to welcome you all and thank you for joining us today to help celebrate the wedding of Megan and Aron on this beautiful autumn day in Adelaide.

We’d also like to give a special thank you to the friends and family members who have worked to help make sure that today’s ceremony and this reception have gone smoothly and successfully.
Particular thanks to those friends and family members who have travelled long distances from interstate and overseas to be here with us today. We are particularly pleased to welcome our visitors from New Zealand, with a special welcome to Aron’s Grand-mother, Chris Coleman.

And a very special welcome and thank you to Aron’s mom Linda who has come down from Darwin and to his father Carl who has travelled here from Switzerland.

I’m delighted that the newly-weds’ parents are able to be here together today.

When a child looks at a parent, they see, hopefully, someone important to their lives but separate from them.

But when parents look at their child, they see part of themselves. When their child is happy, they are filled with joy. When their child is sad, their hearts break.

As Ann and I watched Megan grow, we experienced a whole range of emotions with her.

And we were always ready with some advice, guidance and support if she wanted it – or if we thought she needed it, whether she wanted it or not.

Everything from cleaning up scratched knees, and questions about why the sky is blue, through school and study, and how to build web sites, to the best way of handling customer relations and creating strategic plans.

And we watched her grow and mature into the confident, professional woman she is today and of whom we are very proud.

And during those years, from time to time she would bring home a boy – and that was fine.

Then one day she brought home a man. And that’s when a parent realises that things have changed.

And Aron was such a man - confident and mature himself, well-established in both his social and professional life. This was a serious contender.

For a while it was a bit like the old bull and the young bull, wary and weighing each other up.

But I’m glad to say that Aron showed himself to be a man we could like and respect. And we were delighted and honoured when Aron, in a very traditional way, asked Ann and me for permission to ask Megan to marry him.

Although that delight comes with a slight pang, when you realise that you are no longer going to be the number one go-to person for support and advice.

But there are many, very welcome compensations - like gaining another member of your own family, and bringing two families together.

That is why Ann and I and Rebecca are delighted to welcome Aron as a member of our family, and why we are happy for Megan to become a member of his. Through Megan and Aron’s marriage, our families are brought together and both gain.

We hoped you like the symbolism of having the ceremony in the New Zealand section of the Botanic Gardens, then walking through the South Australian section to the Reception.

And so, on behalf of Ann and myself, I ask you to raise your glasses and join us in wishing the bride and groom happiness in their future life together.

Ladies and gentlemen: The Bride and Groom.

Interesting Start to the Year

2012 has kicked off with two interesting projects.

First was editing a short report about a civil engineering project in Darwin and its construction plan.

The second was a fascinating exercise to write a submission to the Biodiversity Fund, part of the Federal Government’s Clean Energy Future Program. The submission seeks funds to reforest and revegetate a large area of farmland on the Eyre Peninsula to improve biodiversity and create potential carbon offsets.