Idle thoughts 1

I've found that very cold or hot weather - particularly if it's unseasonable (and there's very little that isn't unseasonable these days) - is useful for developing mindfulness. A sudden gust of a chill south westerly when you're not dressed for it, or sweltering sun and no shade because all the trees are wilted; these … Continue reading Idle thoughts 1 →

The strange attraction of ‘The End of Days’ mindset

Personally, I am attracted to the idea [yes it may just be a conspiracy theory] that the world is ruled by plutocrats who somehow believe they will – when the shit hits the fan – be able to retire to Planet B. Or at least an island they own, or a mountain top somewhere. And there they’ll retire to a bunker and await the rapture, or some such epiphany that miraculously fixes everything and lets them get back to business as usual.

Quotables 2

we are essentially a trusting and positive species; Rousseau’s noble savage somehow tricked by time, and civilisation, into something that is not really human – a distrust of our fellow creatures. Bregman would agree with Camus’s character in The Plague - one Dr. Rieux – ‘that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.’

Community matters

What do you do to be involved in the community? I belong to the local tennis and table tennis clubs and help out with fund raising and clean up days. I play an instrument [not as well as I'd like] in the local community band. I attend many local events, agitate for change where I … Continue reading Community matters →

Well…

What activities do you lose yourself in? Many. Thank the celestial teapot that bushranging isn't one of them.

HAIKU

Grandmother oak falls Leaving room for her children to scale the sunlight Image by Nico Wall from Pixabay

Just what is overpopulation?

Another extract from another book for all those intelligent 10 to 12 year olds out there, and that's all of them. Overpopulation is a word that gets all its meaning from the over bit. Population is good, so the story goes (unless it’s nits in your hair), overpopulation isn’t. Overpopulation means you’ve gone over the … Continue reading Just what is overpopulation? →

Foreword from a draft non fiction text

The fossil fooled I began to write this book on the first of January 2020, hoping this will be a year and decade of better vision than we have shown so far (forgive the pun). As I write, much of Australia burns. This fire season began in August 2019, some say July. The fires are … Continue reading Foreword from a draft non fiction text →

Greta and the trolls

Isn't it fitting that Greta should hail from a nordic region, more-or-less the homeplace, I think, of trolls and other things nasty, like Ragnarok. What is it that brings them out whenever she gets a post or mention on social media.