On Ageing

Being now in my eighty-first year, I thought it might be appropriate (but more likely patronising) to give you young folk some ideas about what ageing is about. I can’t pretend I’ve got it all right, but I’ll give it a shot!   There are many impacts of aging, but let’s start with some of […]

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Stacks of Energy Issues

When I graduated from university with an engineering degree I felt decidedly incompetent compared to those who were my peers. I have tremendous admiration for engineers.  They deal with and master technical complexities that leave me baffled. But, as Jordan Petersen has alluded, their competence is dealing with the Physical world and they often lack […]

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Parliamentary Contrast: Labor Cynicism vs Jacinta Price’s Courage

We recently endured budget week. There were no surprises as such because, as seems usual nowadays, everything of consequence had already been leaked to the press. But some of the detail turned out to be alarming Labor has recently found another hook to hang its profligate spending on – it’s called “intergenerational equity”. But it […]

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Little Girl Lost

Every now and then something really gets under my skin! I am far from being a perfect human being. I have faults ad flaws and vulnerabilities like every human on this earth. But by and large, with some help from significant role models, and a life of deep contemplation, I have learnt not to be […]

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Climate Change and Energy Policy


I am concerned that Australia’s lost its way with respect to Climate Change and consequently its energy policy going forward. To understand my position it might be useful if I were to give you some of my history which will put some context about why I think the way I do. To begin with, contrary […]

February 4, 2017

Quantum Theory and Mysticism


I have often written about the impact of Quantum Physics, not only on our understanding of the physical world but also on our philosophical understanding of the nature of the universe. Now I don’t pretend to understand Quantum Physics, and I suspect many who write about it in popular literature have no greater understanding than […]

January 27, 2017

Toying with Treaties


As I have remarked on many occasions before, although Australia is a wonderful country, the plight of our indigenous people is a cause of great concern and not something we should be proud of. I have provided my readers on previous occasions with the appalling statistics of the plight of indigenous people with respect to […]

January 21, 2017

On Becoming Real


Even an old troglodyte like me can appreciate the benefits of modern technology. So I may be a troglodyte but I am decidedly not a Luddite, even though I find some manifestations of modern technology unsettling. I can remember going to a lunch with a prominent international figure as the guest speaker when one of […]

January 14, 2017

Preserving Our Liberal Democracy


I have written many previous essays on Islamist terrorism which is underpinned by a fundamentalist belief in Islam. I have examined the genesis of Islam and its initial success as not only a religious movement but as a colonising military force which resulted in the century or two after the death of Muhammad in a […]

January 7, 2017

The Mysterious Universe


Human advancement is inexorably linked to the progress of human thinking. What we have come to know and believe has been subject to multiple influences. In the West, prior to the seventeenth century, most people, the philosophers included, believed that there were only two prime sources of knowledge, viz. To relearn the wisdom of the […]

December 31, 2016

The Genesis of Another Famous Cristmas Song


Even an old cynic like me is positively affected by the Christmas myth. In fact it often inspires me to write a myth of my own. In the past I have written a couple in a series that I have called How a Famous Christmas Song Came to Be. This week I intend to follow […]

December 17, 2016

Glass Half Full and Rising


The news, it seems, is largely bad news. We hear of traffic fatalities, plane crashes and the latest terrorist atrocities. We are fed statistics about growing obesity, drug and alcohol abuse and falling education standards. On the television we see the latest house fire, wide spread storm damage and pervasive floods and droughts, all too […]

December 10, 2016

A Response to Further Thoughts on Democracy and “The Donald”


I would like to question the conclusion that the election of Donald Trump is somehow a triumph of democracy. A democratic process that took 2 years to, arguably, find the leader of the free world, produced 2 basically unsuitable candidates and elected the least suitable of the 2. Despite Hilary’s highly appropriate experience, I consider […]

December 2, 2016

I Want My Mummy!


This week, I was determined to put the Donald Trump phenomena aside for a while, and I will. But I am compelled to comment on a few attendant issues that became evident to me in recent times. Firstly, what we have been seeing as a reaction to Trump, Brexit and other world events makes me […]

November 26, 2016