Home grown violence
It has been a busy week. We in Australia are lucky, living as we do in a stable, safe country. But that’s starting to change. As the world edges closer to war as Iran attacks Israel, here in Australia our … Continued
And darkness fell upon the Earth…
Parts of North America experienced a total solar eclipse the other day. You’re forgiven if you didn’t know about it, since it didn’t affect most of the rest of the world. But it was HUGE in the US. Facebook was … Continued
Unforeseen consequences
I have to admit that it’s convenient to be able to pay bills online. No standing in queues at counters, no having to post paper cheques (remember them?). But as more and more of our lives are lived in the … Continued
Happy Easter to all
It’s that time of year again – spring in the northern hemisphere, when new growth pokes its head above the thawing ground and little lambies frolic in green pastures. We in the southern hemisphere, where it’s autumn, join Christians in … Continued
Self-Insertion in Fiction
People often ask writers whether they write people they know into their books. And it does happen. Maybe an obnoxious bank manager dies a particularly nasty death in a crime book, or the fellow you had an unrequited crush on … Continued
The science is never settled
This post might be a bit… sciencey for some of you, but I told everybody that I’m a space nut, so you’ve been warned. I became interested in astronomy and cosmology at a time when the Big Bang theory was … Continued
A different type of snake oil salesman
Like a lot of us, I use an ad blocker when I browse the web. But I do occasionally allow ads on sites I use frequently, but don’t want to set up a paid account. One such is Willy weather, … Continued
Musings on a Saturday
Like many Australians, we signed up to Qantas’s frequent flyer program years ago and we acquire quite a few points when we go OS. I imagine everybody knows frequent flyer points are pretty well useless for getting anything flying related … Continued
Privacy is up to you
A couple of years ago the EU came up with a privacy requirement on websites. Now, I’m an Australian, so at first I thought it didn’t impact me. But the web, as we know, doesn’t take much notice of borders, … Continued
Romance and decimal currency
It was Valentine’s Day a few days ago and naturally, in these days of spend til you drop, it has become a commercial success. The origins of Valentine’s Day are not entirely clear, and there are several theories about how … Continued