The poor – deserving or not?

I actually challenge the ideological underpinnings of jobseeker - it is not fit for purpose, as you point out, because people do get trapped on it. And they are trapped not because they are lazy or because they don't want to work but because a range of circumstances and systemic issues prohibit their participation in the 'job market'. And yes, there probably are a few - a very few - genuine dole bludgers out there BUT THEY ARE A RARITY. I'd prefer an end to welfare payments and the catalogue of obligations foisted on recipients being replaced by a universal basic [or living] wage. We'd all be better off (after a time)… and yes, the wealthy would need to pay a larger share [endless, if you like] of tax.

Regarding statistics, floods and the public nuisance that social media can be

The Guardian asks: "Are eastern Australia’s catastrophic floods really a one-in-1,000 year event? Describing a flood as a one-in-1,000-year event doesn’t mean we won’t see another one until the year 3000. Photograph: Bradley Richardson/Australian Defence Force/AFP/Getty Images Scientists say describing floods as ‘one-in-1,000-year’ events can mislead the public about the probability of such disasters recurring" On … Continue reading Regarding statistics, floods and the public nuisance that social media can be →

Buy it…?

16 year old Nick Seche is a gamer, a nerd. It's 2024 and Seche wins a beta trial of a new tech, sensory-immersing gaming unit and program from innovative gaming guru, Daichi Arata, head of Phantom Gaming. It's a game apparently locked in the mundanity of small-town USA but Arata's game promises so much more. It goes way beyond the virtual and plunges Nick into a world that becomes scarily not at all everyday. Via the game’s sensors and lightspeed technology Seche lives and breathes his character, Norman Mene. And things in his own world (Sydney Australia) begin to resonate with the world of Burris (the small mid-west town where the game is set); the game spirals out of control, Pleasantville meets Gremlins - hackers made substantial, gamers intruding on game space and politics out of control in downtown main street. In the meantime, back in Sydney, Seche is contacted via a strange entity he dubs the voice. Via the voice he is led to believe that the game is a simulation environment which allows sinister background entities to data mine players. It may be gaming but the stakes are real world - and Nick Seche is a guinea pig.

Malleable…

The paperback cover. I am not (as should be evident) the world's best (or even 1.5 billionth best) graphic designer but I think this one works, at least a little, at getting across what the book is about. Hints of games, playing with dice and gambling, algorithms, and the fluidity of data.

Malleable published by moi…

Made a quick promo film for the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLocqrNqmvU Sixteen year old Nick Seche is a gamer, a nerd. It's 2024 and Seche wins a beta trial of a new tech, sensory immersive gaming unit and program from innovative gaming guru, Daichi Arata, head of Phantom Gaming. It's a game apparently locked in the mundanity … Continue reading Malleable published by moi… →

An alternative truth

The opening of a novella about this pandemic; just set somewhere else entirely.In a world with alternative truths what we would perhaps prefer is an alternative world on which to trial them. Part 1 - Beginnings December 13 Nahuw, Anihc Moon is about to place an Uggo piece into what he hopes will be a … Continue reading An alternative truth →

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 →

Letter to our first grandchild…

Corporations run governments. That seems to be a truth pretty much universal. Corporations determine policies; the chief democratic will of most nations at present is one which does not want to divest itself of the making of profits and greenhouse gases. Our economies are well oiled. Coal seamed. Denial of our climate emergency is a well-funded industry.