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Crichton Chronicle - Standish Standard

$\parbox{7cm}{\it \begin{center} March 2001\\ 11\raisebox{.6ex}{th}{} Edition \end{center}}$

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Y2K -- Oh yay!

As commented on in the last edition of the Crichton Chronicle Standish Standard, it seems the only way our newsletter gets written these days is to take the laptop away with us to some exotic destination. Most recent previous editions have come to you from Brampton or Daydream islands in the Great Barrier Reef. This edition comes to you from steamy Broome in Western Australia's far north. Read on to see what tempted us over to WA.

Christmas 1999 saw us in Hong Kong staying at the ever exclusive Crichton Hotel. It was one of the coldest Christmases people could remember, so we well appreciated Ronnie Wong's hospitality for a fireside dinner in a private room of the Repulse Bay Hotel on Christmas eve . Then Christmas day was catered in gourmet style by Maggie.

We started the year (2000 that is) with a bang (quite a few bangs, pops and fizzes if the truth be known), on the 68th floor of a rather tall building in Hong Kong, courtesy of Greg. A number of people were amazed that Russell could afford to be away from his computers at such a critical hour, let alone the wisdom of being on top of a large building from which the only way down was via stairs should the lifts fail. Instead, it was Greg, who had a mobile phone glued to his ear as the various parts of his company reached midnight. In the end, Russell experienced only two Y2K incidents -- a computer backup system failed requiring a day to reconstruct from tape, and his email client started sending out mail from the year 100 (which other computers delightfully reported as coming from anywhere between the 1960s to the 22nd century!).

Much of the rest of the trip seemed a bit of a blur really especially as Kim had contracted the Sydney flu on the plane on the way over (great timing!) and, of course, Hal still needed his midday sleep. Hal and Russell did however manage to take in a couple of trips to Stanley markets -- other highlights included Russell and others 's participation in what was billed as ``the last great tennis match of the century'' which Greg had

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...x{y2k.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Partying like it's 1999} \end{center} }$

organised to see out the old century. Russell in fact came runner up in the competition -- not so much due to Russell's skill in playing tennis, rather more due to him managing to keep out of the way while his partner played the shots! Another highlight was our trip to the Big Bhudda, the world's largest sitting bronze Buddha, located on Lantau Island, This necessitated a special permit organised by Tony thorough his police connections for entry for our two off road vehicles. The latter trip finished with a very pleasant yum cha at the small fishing village of Tai O where Hal made valiant efforts at consuming his fried noodles using one chopstick -- quite competently we may add.

Hal's Year.

Hal continues to grow and to delight us day by day. He is such an interactive, communicative little boy that we receive many positive comments about him. He has developed a passion for music, particularly the Nutcracker suite and he can name all the instruments in Peter and the Wolf. Often in the evening, he will put on a show featuring hand puppets, or perhaps just creatures of his own imagination. Sometimes he involves members of the audience -- e.g. ``You be the wolf, mummy''. He also has a tiny little (imaginary) mouse which seems to be with him most of the time.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\phl \epsfbox{hal-in-tree.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it } \end{center} }$

=4.3cm =-11 This interest in music and drama is the obvious thing to cater for as we start to think about schools for him. He has also shown a number of other talents such as counting to 20, knowing his alphabet since 18 months of age, and starting to read some words now before the age of 3. He loves swimming (or rather jumping in preferably when it's around 1.8 meters deep) and loves gymnastics.

Hal has been going to long day child care (Tigger's Place) at the university for 3 days per week. He met his best friend Liam there (when both were aged 7 months), and share a day in common -- dubbed ``Black Friday'' by the carers, as the two get up to mischief together. They are inseparable when they are there.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...\begin{center}{\it Hal with Liam, with Louise and with Benjamin} \end{center} }$

Hal has two other ``best friends'', Benjamin and Louise, whom he sees regularly. Kim originally met their mothers through a yoga for pregnancy class and the friendship between mothers and children has strengthened since then. Hal is very loyal to his friends and often wants to see them; go to their house; take them presents etc.

In the past year we have seen less of Hal's bigger cousins -- Blair and Chaanah -- especially since Blair went to his school's outward bound type learning experience in the Kangaroo Valley (all boys from his school in year 9 do 2 terms schooling on the school owned campus and are not allowed contact with their parents or others -- apart from 2 parent student weekend hikes). Chaanah continues to be the social butterfly and is always at one party or another. As we write, from the beginning of the school year in 2001, both Blair and Chaanah will cease to be boarders and will be day students at their respective schools with Maggie occupying the house they bought in Vaucluse, Sydney a couple of years back. Greg will continue working in Hong Kong and will no doubt clock up even more frequent flier points in coming down more regularly to Sydney.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...gin{center}{\it Hal with his cousins, Sarah, Lachlan and Adam } \end{center} }$

Hal really enjoyed meeting up with his country cousins in Western Australia. But more of that later...

Travelers' tales

=2.5cm =0 After our return from Hong Kong in the New Year we settled back into a more ``normal'' existence. Weekends with friends; visits by family and friends including Russell's mother Lu for Hal's second birthday etc. We joined Zoo Friends early in the year and have enjoyed many a morning or afternoon there on weekends with Hal.

=2.5cm =-3 At Easter time we journeyed to Kangaroo Valley (about 3 hours south of Sydney) going by way of Wollongong and finally finding the time to visit the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern hemisphere (we'd always said we must go in and look one day). Having left Sydney at a very civilized (read late) hour we managed to arrive at the time they started serving their great vegetarian meals (recommended). At Kangaroo Valley we stayed on a farm in a great little cabin at the foot of the mountains. Hal loved spotting frogs at night in the pond beside the cabin. He especially enjoyed our trip to Nowra animal farm (highly recommended) where many native animals stroll around the open area.

July and August were the baby months -- we were pleased to welcome the 4 new C's -- 2 in Sydney and 2 in Canberra -- : Christopher (son of Ingrid and Peter); Claire (daughter of Anne Marie and Graham); Carmel (daughter of Louise and Denis) and Charlotte (daughter of Deborah and Tony). New friends for Hal.

There was a bit of a drought in travels from Easter until November when we finally got back out of Sydney again (not as though we weren't busy back home though!). Ever since our big family picnic at Parsley Bay for Hal's second birthday (that was fun!), we had been trying to organise a visit to Kim's cousin Nicky who lives in Bathurst -- it took until November until both parties were able to find a convenient time! Once

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ... } } \begin{center}{\it Nicky and Alana with Russell and Hal} \end{center} }$

there, we had a ball (thanks Nic). Nicky lives on a lovely plot of land in her ``little'' (not) 4 bedroom two storey cabin. With all but one of her four children now living away from home the other key occupants were 2 of Nicky's cats and a boarder cat. Hal loved these feline creatures. We were delighted when Alana, Nicky's eldest daughter, came home unexpectantly, while we were there. From Bathurst we drove to Dubbo to visit the Western Plains Zoo -- an open range zoo renowned for its black rhinoceros amongst other animals. We also had a wonderful picnic on the river banks (and yes Hal did fall in) on the approx. 500 acre property of Nicky's friend, Patrick (thanks Patrick).

Olympics

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...begin{center}{\it Elliot, Hal and Blair --- off to the Olympics} \end{center} }$

But then how could we forget to mention the Olympics in Sydney in September. What a blast! Russ and I went to about 10 live events (Hal went to 3 or 4) -- all of which were great. But the highlight had to be going to the last dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony -- even when we watched it 2 days later on television and even though it looked great then, there was nothing to replace being there and seeing it live. It all went off well that it seems trite to list one complaint but my one complaint but if there was one it would have to be the fact that in all the outdoor venues there was little or no shade to speak of and Sydney was hit with unseasonably hot weather at this time. Apart from that it was a great time.

One of the best features of the Olympics was that it brought Greg Franklin (Hal's second godfather), his wife Sue and their 2 girls Taylor and Alix out from America. It had been a while since we'd seen Greg and even longer since we had seen Sue and the girls (back to 1992 when we stayed with Greg and Sue in the States on our way to Europe). It was the first time that Greg got to meet Hal in the flesh. And as Sue said ``aren't you glad you agreed to be godfather to this one!''

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...greg-hal.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Greg Frankin and Hal} \end{center} }$

=4.5cm =-13 Greg and Sue and the girls had tickets to the closing ceremony so they very kindly offered us the use of their apartment in Kirribilli with views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour bridge to view the closing fireworks. I think we got the better deal. It was absolutely gob stoppingly awesome. We were so close that the entire building shook with the reverberations and the smell of gunpowder was intense. Thanks Greg and Sue for providing us (Mum, Russ, Hal and Kim) such a memorable experience.

New Zealand

Our next major trip away wasn't till November, this time to our nearest overseas neighbour, New Zealand. Kim and Hal flew off to Auckland to meet Russell, who was already in Dunedin in New Zealand's south for a conference. We experienced wonderful hospitality by Liz, whose ``executive residence'' overlooks an arm of Waitemata harbour in Auckland. Nightly G&Ts¹ sipped in the spa capped off the experience. With Hal in tow, visits to places like Kelly Tarlton's underwater world (which Sydney Aquarium is modeled on) and Auckland Zoo (probably modeled on Sydney's Taronga Park) took place. We hired a car and explored Coromandel peninsula to Auckland's east. Highlights of the Coromandel area included Waiau waterworks(a quirky blend of sculpture, engineering and children's play); a small gauge railway up a hill; a beach with hot and cold water; and a stunning rock formation and beach called Cathedral cove, accessible only by foot or by boat. Hal had no trouble walking (or rather running ) the several kilometre trip -- both ways - he has amazing stamina!. We then drove on to Rotorua, spending 3 days taking in the thermal sights, relaxing in spa baths, bouncing on trampolines (well Hal did anyway) and seeing a Maori concert. Hal virtually ran the entire 4.5km of Waimangu valley (created 120 years ago by a large volcanic eruption)- we had a job to keep up with him!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...x{with-liz.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Chez Liz, Auckland} \end{center} }$

=4.5cm =-12 The final week of our trip saw us taking in the Bay of Islands in New
Zealand's north (unfortunately the weather wasn't as kind to us on this leg of the trip). We traveled out to sea to view the Hole in the rock (Kim and then Hal both felt seasick and unfortunately we didn't
see any of the promised dolphins!). But we had a great place to stay overlooking the Bay while the weather turned wet. And the owners kindly lent us their portable video/TV so Hal was able to watch videos -- more than he'd ever seen in Australia! It was interesting to note the developmental stage that Hal was in on this trip -- he really missed his home and his friends -- he talked about Liam, Benjamin and Louise almost every day. Of course by the time we were ready to leave New Zealand and return to Australia he wanted to stay with Liz and her cat Cassie!

Liz had set the scene wonderfully for us for the impending Christmas -- lighting an advent wreath each Sunday we were there, lighting daily another candle marking off the days till Christmas and displaying a Nativity set which Hal delighted in rearranging in different patterns each night. And so we returned to Australia not long before Christmas 2000.

Christmas

Christmas and New Year were spent in Sydney (a bit of a rarity these past years) and we loved every minute of it. We spent a wonderful Christmas day with the Parkers, my uncle Ian and friends Nils and Karolina (newly arrived from Sweden with Nils working for Russell). We were 12 seated for lunch (which went well into the evening)at Gordon Avenue. What a delightful stress free Christmas it was. Nils and Karolina couldn't believe that they were swimming and snorkeling on Christmas day!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...fbox{xmas.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Christmas Day, 2000} \end{center} }$

Boxing day (26th of December) saw another tribe of people enjoying left overs and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. The next day was a picnic at Parsley Bay to see my cousin Julianne and Aunty Wendy ...you know the rest ...the silly season seems to get longer!

On New Year's day Kim participated in the Federation² parade watched live by an estimated half a million people and millions more on television. It was part of an official duty related to Kim's work but quite an experience as well. Kim looked after a group of veterans and was seated in the parade in a jeep transporting a dozen or so women who had served in World War Two (an amazing bunch of lively women).

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Kim dressed for Federation Parade} \end{center} }$

=-4.5cm =-13 No sooner was all of this over than the three of us were on a flight to Melbourne -- ostensibly to attend our friend Christina's wedding to Anthony but we also had a superb couple of days with our friend Graeme at his and Mark's holiday house near the beach at Venus Bay in Victoria's Gippsland
(thanks Graeme) before returning to Melbourne for the wedding. And what a wedding it was! A mixture of Greek orthodox and alternative with lots of fabulous live music thrown in. To cap it off, two professional flamenco dancers performed at the reception. By this time we were standing on the chairs clapping and being captivated by their dance before dancing the night away ourselves. A great wedding. And Hal was safely at his Melbourne residence being well looked after by Graeme and Mark. (I should add that both Graeme, and Mark in particular, were astounded by how well behaved Hal was -- as Mark said he didn't think children like that existed! -- I'm allowed to brag aren't I? -- Kim.)

Western Australia

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...{kerry.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Kim and Hal with Kerry} \end{center} }$

=-6cm =-12 A week after Christina's wedding and still in January, we flew west, for a clan gathering of the Standishes at Russell's family's property³ in the Margaret River. Our key reason for going was to celebrate a major birthday for Russell's mum, Lu. This really is the start of the birthday season for us -- as soon as we arrived in Perth, it was time to celebrate our friend Kerry Barber's birthday with a lamb roast and a few excellent WA red wines (Thanks Kerry). Kerry's two sisters, brother-in-laws, and two nieces complemented an interesting evening. (Hal finally called it a day at 11.30 pm Sydney time!) One of Kerry's brother-in-laws (Paul) proved to be principal of Busselton high school, where our niece Sarah Standish will be starting this year.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...party.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Lu's party in the Lodge} \end{center} }$

Lu's birthday took place on the 25th of January, the day after her real birthday, as Russell's brother Tony was unable to get away from his study until then (an MBA just started this year). It was the usual gourmet and wine sodden affair, featuring clean skin (no label) Rivendell champagne for celebratory purposes (and no -- Rivendell champagne is not for sale!). Lu's sisters Joey and Sal, and Russell's grandparents Henry and Heath, made it over for the event, as well as Pat Floan (whom we stayed with in Munglinup -- see CCSS issue 6⁴) John Overman, Russell's teacher for his last 3 years of primary school, and John's wife Helen, also made it down from Perth for the occasion. John brought along some photos and other memorabilia of Munglinup school. Apart from these people there was a line up of the usual suspects: the Frosties (Russell's cousin Craig and his wife Kyla, and children), Russell's brother, Mark and his wife Wendy, and their respective broods. Mandy and ``Lily from Belgium" also came from Perth.

In carrying on the theme of birthdays, we then celebrated Kim's birthday on the 30th of January, then our nephew Adam's on the 31st. Hal's birthday was on the 5th of February -- the day we flew back from Broome. We had a 4 hour stopover in Perth before flying back to Sydney so Granny Lu met us at the airport and took us straight to Perth zoo to celebrate Hal's birthday. So Hal can truthfully say that we flew to Perth zoo for the day for his 3rd birthday and had a party there complete with birthday cake and candles!!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ... } } \begin{center}{\it Hal riding a horse, Granny Lu leading} \end{center} }$

WA wasn't just about wining and dining (although there was a lot of that) -- there was also time for enjoying the crystalline waters of the beaches nearby, exploring the Ngilgi cave at Yallingup and the nearby Quindalup fauna park featuring tame kangaroos and precocious birds. As noted previously Hal really enjoyed meeting up with his country cousins -- Sarah (12); Adam (6) and Lachlan (3.5). He loved trampolining with them or going horseriding with Adam on Sarah's and Granny Lu's ponies.

As we said at the beginning of this newsletter, in addition to our visit to the Margaret River we also planned a trip to tropical Broome. On our way through to Broome, we had another stopover in Perth. This time we stayed with friends Adele and Nigel and their 2 young boys Nicholas and Ashley (thanks Adele and Nigel). Konrad and Lisa, their son Nicholas and number 2 as yet unborn, came over to see us and, in turn, we went over to see Lloyd and Kate and their 2 little girls Claire and Hannah. It was great catching up with everyone (even if it was hectic!)

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...psfbox{camel.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Camels at Broome} \end{center} }$

In Broome, we spent a lot of time by the pool, did some serious novel-reading, as well as typing this CCSS on a laptop. Russell took a ride on some camels along famous Cable Beach and Hal sat on one for the photo. We also saw hand-feeding of crocodiles at the crocodile farm next door to our resort and took in a movie at the world's oldest outdoor cinema in town. Broome was a great holiday destination -- a great place to unwind!

Kim's changing work status

Up until about April 2000 Kim had been relatively content at work doing 3 days per week. However, it became apparent around this time that there were changes afoot and that the organization did not wish to continue giving Kim part time work (they were obliged to do so under the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement until the child's second birthday -- Hal turned 2 in February 2000 after which it was purely discretionary. The Director Kim was working for had pointed out to her that they had found it difficult to provide her with work at her (senior) level on a part time basis. The choice then was one of either going back to work full time (and having to find a position within the organization first) or taking a redundancy package (as had 65 others in the previous financial year!)

When Kim compared the two scenarios there was really little to compare. In the past year the quality of the work she had been given to do had deteriorated and was proving little in the way of intellectual challenge or professional satisfaction. Compared with this was the delight she continues to get from Hal and the firm belief that she hadn't had a child just to put him in full time child care -- it was little of a decision in the end really (although it did take quite a while for Kim to adjust to the idea of not working!) But that is the decision she has come to. She asked herself the critical question: ``Do I want to be here in 10 years time?'' And the answer was a resounding ``NO!''

So she has decided to bite the bullet. As this is written Kim is currently ``on leave" -- utilising her annual leave and long service leave -- this will take her up until July of this year at which time she will exercise the option to take a payout.

As it seems like we have been on holiday at least since we went to New Zealand at the end of November, Kim can truly say that she is not missing work at all. She's been far too busy for that! She is /We are very lucky to be in a position of not needing to find work immediately or possibly, at all, so at this stage she is happy to ``go with the flow" and, if, at some time in the future (near or distant) she feels the need to do something else then she will pursue it at that time. For now she is quite happy just ``to be" and spend quality time with Hal. She does know that she wants to try and find something she can be passionate about and not be complacent. She does not want just a job.

Hal will continue going to childcare 2 days (instead of 3) per week at the university childcare (Tigger's Place) -- we didn't feel it would be fair on him to take him out and it also gives Kim time to pursue her own needs.

So 2001 is destined to be (yet another) year of change.

The closing of Gilchrist's

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...gilchrist.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Gilchrist's closing} \end{center} }$

=4.3cm =-12 One of the major events for Gwen and us as a family this past year has been the closing of Gilchrist's. After 62 years in the business of selling wool haberdashery and schoolwear in the suburb of Maroubra in Sydney Gwen decided to call it a day. But not before she was the media personality of the month!! One of the reasons (amongst others) for closing the business was the introduction of the GST⁵ here in Australia. Gwen felt that converting her shop (opened in 1938) to modern accounting practices simply wasn't for her. This combined with the fact that her manager (in his 70s) had retired in April and the fact that Gwen has been doing this for a very long time added fuel to closing the business. The local paper has done interviews and feature articles about Gwen over the years and one of the TV stations has also, but when the Sydney Morning Herald (the major metropolitan newspaper in Sydney) did a feature article⁶ on her and the business and placed it on page 2 -- well the other media outlets went into a media frenzy to interview her. She had Channels 7, 9 and 10⁷ on her business doorstep the morning the newspaper came out -- and so a star was (if not born) acknowledged.

In addition to the commercial TV stations Gwen was interviewed by a number of radio stations; Good Taste Magazine from Melbourne and was photographed and placed in the social history section of the State Library of NSW. A number of people wanted to further conduct interviews, including Australian Story on channel 2 but by this time she was media'd out. Still as Gwen said most people have to die to get their accolades -- she got hers all before!!

=-3cm =10 Gilchrist's the business is still there -- Gwen simply closed the doors -- having got rid of as much stock as was possible in a couple of weekend sales in August of last year. Since then she and Mr. Brown her manager of the past 21 years⁸ meet nearly every week at the shop to do some bookwork, meet with one or other charitable organisations whom Gwen is giving goods away to and then she and Mr. Brown have lunch together. The lower ground level of the shop is now rented to the person who used to provide her with school uniforms; and now trades under another name; meanwhile the upstairs is bulging still with items of stock.

=-3cm =0 So Gwen is now officially retired!! Who would have believed it!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...fbox{stars.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Two stars together} \end{center} }$

Science in the 21st century

Russell's professional life in 2000 centered on the startup of a high performance computing company, which through its genesis went through many names, from HPC Australia, ACAC, (AC)² to (AC)³, finally settling on ac3, which ostensibly stands for Australian Centre for Advanced Computing and Communications⁹. Now that the letterheads have been printed, we hope the name changes have stopped. This company has two shareholders -- the majority being the NSW State Government (using NSW Telco as the holding company) and most of the NSW Universities holding a minority shareholding (approx. 40%) through Uni Projects.

With the appointment of a Director, and a small team of managers in March, speculation over what Russell will actually be doing came to an end. Russell is now leading a small team of programmers supporting the users of the facility, relegating all system administration to another team. Back to doing what he started with at UNSW in 1993, albeit on a larger scale. This challenge of setting up the team should keep him busy for the next few years. Much of 2000 was involved in strategic planning of ac3, and in recruitment, with new staff joining him in November, just ready for when the new computers became available to users.

Even years are the years for the Artificial Life and Complex Systems conferences, which in 2000 were held in Portland, Oregon, USA and Dunedin, New Zealand respectively. Russell organised the last Complex Systems conference in Sydney in 1998, so felt a certain responsibility to attend the Dunedin conference. Both conferences were thoroughly stimulating, and Russell came back with more ideas for things to research than he has time to do it. Maybe its time for a breather from conferences, particularly in 2001.

=3cm =8 Much of his research in 2000 revolved around work for presentation at the two conferences. His work on measuring complexity of artificial life organisms is nearing a ``publication point'' with the help of the new supercomputers at ac3. As well, he explored some statistical measures of evolutionary processes, which led to an interesting suggestion that the observed increase in diversity (numbers of species) through the fossil record might be entirely due to the continents breaking up from one supercontinent starting about 400 million years ago.

=3cm =-7 In a bit of break from the world of complex systems, Russell has been involved in an Internet ``chat group'' discussing the consequences of a curious idea that the universe we see may be but one of a huge number of ``parallel'' universes, sometimes called the Multiverse. One of the interesting things is that this way of looking at reality proves to be a simpler description of reality, than that of a single universe (contrary to one's common sense). The principle of Occam's razor is that given two equally valid theories, the simpler theory is to be preferred as the one more likely to be true (in the sense of remaining valid as more observations are taken). It is possible to show why Occam's razor works in the multiverse. More surprisingly, by making a few fairly mild assumptions about how conscious observers such as ourselves observe things, it is possible to derive some fundamental equations of physics. As someone else quipped ``Physics is a branch of psychology, rather than the other way around''. Somehow, I'm not sure that most physicists would be pleased at this turn of events!

In conclusion

And so this brings us to the conclusion of yet another CCSS -- a review of the year past and expectations of change in the year ahead. As always we are pleased to send this edition to you in the hope that it keeps us a little better informed and closer to you. As always we'd love to see you as well if that is humanly possible -- we know that we all lead very busy lives but I believe you can always find the time if you try, even if it does take a while!

Our best wishes to all

Kim Russell and Hal

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\phl \epsfbox{family.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it } \end{center} }$