This week is eResearch Australasia, probably the most significant meeting of minds in the country of its sort. I have presented several times in the past at this annual conference, and this time I'll be speaking on the "The Spartan HPC Story: From Small Scale Experimental to Top500 and Beyond" which, as one fellow staff member quipped, is "a love letter to Spartan". There is some truth to this; I have watched Spartan grow over the past nine years from being just a plan on paper, raised in innovative poverty, and becoming one of the most significant systems on the planet with volumes of research output. Supercomputing is important, with a return of forty-four dollars in profits or cost-savings per dollar invested. There is not an area of modern technology or science that has supercomputing has not touched (could you imagine where we would be with COVID-19 without supercomputing?), and it pleases me a great deal to be deeply involved in this industry and academic pursuit.

But this is not the only academic pursuit of recent days. I have already started drafting a presentation on bioinformatics HPC education for EResearchNZ, which will be held in Christchurch early next year. Apropos more New Zealand matters, last week I attended the annual Wellington University Alumuni event (when you've graduated from several universities, you get to go to a few of these), where Professor Nick Long of the Robinson Research Institute spoke of their fascinating developments in superconductors (which NZ is a bit of world leader in) for fMRI, electric aviation and space vehicles, and even fusion power. Further, this week I have also finished two major assignments (two PhD reviews) for the subject International Academic Writing for my doctoral studies at Euclid University, and finally, I have started writing a paper on catatonia with Angela L (she's the subject expert, I'm merely a helpful wordsmith making use of his psychology degree).

Far from being a cloistered figure, this weekend's big trip was out to Bendigo with the Australa-China Friendship Society, where we caught up with members of the Bendigo Chinese Association who have done remarkable work in preserving and promoting that community's strong ties to the region of Dai Gum San (Big Gold Mountain). We visited the Golden Dragon Museum, the Kuan Yin Temple, Guan Yin Miao (temple of The Goddess of Mercy), Yi Yuan ("Garden of Joy"), and the Bendigo Joss Hoss Temple. The visit was so enjoyable and educational, and the local Chinese association was so helpful and friendly that I believe it will become an annual trip for the ACFS.

For the past two months, I have not been engaged in any study, an itch that my brain cannot tolerate for too long. Some consideration has occurred over the past week about applying for doctoral studies and, hedging my bets, I've put in two applications one in the UK (quickly accepted) and one in Aotearoa New Zealand (several weeks for evaluation). The former is fee-based, the latter there is a fair possibility for a scholarship, although there is normally an expectation that one is actually in New Zealand and not employed full-time. I have, of course, mentioned in my application that I have completed seven postgraduate degrees now on a full-time basis whilst employed so maybe that will weigh in my favour. For the former course, I will probably do studies on quality assurance in information systems using COBOL transitions as a case study, and for the latter, expanding on my previous research on climate impacts and the use of international torts to fund adaption technologies. Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, I've spent a bit of time marking assignments for the Cluster and Cloud Computing course and next week I have another round of workshops to conduct. I must confess I am a little surprised by the fact there are a few students who, at a master's level, have chosen not to submit a required assignment. There are undoubtedly good reasons for dropping out of a unit at times, but it is an expensive decision these days.

But it is not all work and study for me and at times I do have a pretense of a social life. Over the past two evenings, I've prepard "double faux canard" dinners for Liana F., and Erica H., respectively at Maison de Lafayette. In the first instance, I made a massaman faux canard curry and the latter a Venetian faux canard ragu with pan-fried gnocchi. The third faux canard dish awaits! On the receiving end, Chiara and Adrian C. hosted a dinner with Simon S. and Justine M., which was quite an elaborate spread with such sharp minds around the table. I also apparently made a new friend in the form of Mogwai the tuxedo cat. As an evening out, Martin P., organised a comedy festival event with myself and NinjaDan to see Melanie Bracewell who told quite an amusing story around tracking her missing AirPods - highly recommended. Our delicious dinner prior to the show at Roue Galette; it's nice to have a little bit of Bretagne in Melbourne. Also recommended is the current screening of Deep Sky, the story of the James Webb Space Telescope which I watched with Ruby M., at IMAX. Space documentaries (and realist movies) are so delightful on a massive screen. Finally, I must mention that I attended (thankfully alone) the concert Clocked Out and Myriad which was experimental percussion with a bit of theatrics. I don't mind experimental of course, but the lack of rhythmic consistency put me off. Still, one less-than-perfect event after a week of good events is not bad going.