This morning our ship stopped at the Croatian town of Vukovar, a quiet settlement on the banks of the Danube. We elected to take a walking tour of the town. The first thing you notice is the water tower on the hill with its Croatian flag flying at the top. After that you notice buildings…
On our last day in Budapest we opted for a visit to the city’s central market. I love markets. They’re a great place to get an overview of what the city loves and what it eats. Having someone on hand to give us a commentary helped, too. The market is a large, very clean hall,…
Budapest is a beautiful city with some amazing architecture and a dark past. We’ve been here several times before so we opted out of the city tours that take you to Heroes Square and the heights of Buda and the castle overlooking the river. Here’s a look at that earlier trip. On a beautiful sunny…
The joys of travel used to include getting there. I describe the problems getting a flight to Europe and the vexations of airports
Spare me the sanctimonious platitudes about “illegal war.” The Iranian regime has been waging conflict through Iran’s proxy wars for decades. Hezbollah. Hamas. The Houthis. Rockets, militias, terror groups, and convenient deniability. Yet the moment Iran itself becomes the target of military action, the same people who ignored all of that suddenly rediscover their devotion…
It feels as though we now live in a state of permanent outrage. Every day brings a new crisis, a new scandal, a new moral emergency.
January and February 2026 have seen the most significant challenge to the Islamic Republic of Iran in decades, with protests spreading across the country over deep economic pain and broader political repression. What started in late December 2025 with shopkeepers in Tehran’s bazaar reacting to a currency collapse and soaring inflation quickly escalated into nationwide…
This article reflects on how a dry country like Australia can have produced world class Winter Olympics athletes. Yes, we do have snow.
A quiet shift is happening in how we gain access to goods and services. Increasingly we are forced to rely on technology
For a long time, AI-generated images were… let’s be kind and say enthusiastic. Australian wildlife suffered particularly. Kangaroos that looked like deer. Lorikeets that looked like they’d been assembled from fruit. But now AI Animation has arrived. That phase is mostly behind us now, and the change has been surprisingly fast. What’s really catching my…