Musings, mutterings and bright lights

  𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩. There are court appearances with no compliant juries in NY City, Georgia, and other prosecutions, eg women abused by Trump. There are no more bank loans and Twitter accounts with Deutsche Bank and Chinese loans outstanding. Meanwhile, his resorts and properties are bleeding money. No mortal wounds yet but the impeachment trial showed 57% of the senate lining up against Trump, so a public relations failure, and a costly one for the divided GOP. Let the fat lady sing her lament against Trump. There are things to crow about in the downfall of this monster.

  Meditations on WE v I or ME In politics, WE expresses inclusion and progresssive whereas I is the call of conservatives. In team sport, WE speaks loudly both before and after a game.  In job applications and the workplace, WE expresses teamwork and that is the basis of a successful business.  On Valentine Day it’s always WE. In divorce courts, it’s often I and ME. In culture WE speaks loudly - language and civic are social creations. WE live under the same roof and share daily greetings with others.  In sexual relations, WE is a sharp contrast to I or sex with yourself. In prayer “Give us our daily bread. WE are in the end social beings sharing the world with others. Selfless beats selfish.  Ayn Rand or Kurt Vonnegut Jnr? Writers need readers and they reflect our viewpoints.  

Looking back from my uni days Like most students I met lots of people at university and made many friends, none closer that Vito Comar perhaps the most amazing person I’ve ever met, and I’ve had the good fortune of meeting some amazing people. Of course I also met the Comar family including Marina who Robyn Kerr tells me is an old friend. No account of my student days could be complete without my close friendship with Vito. We spent countless hours together, lived in at least 3 shared houses over the years including in Perth,   Sydney, Canberra and Brazil, and we even worked together in Sydney as security in Sydney’s largest building of that time, North Point which was still going up even though the bottom 3-4 storeys were shopping malls. Five of us made up the crew: Robert Bruning, actor and film producer, (check him out on the IMDB or Google him) someone who sang in the Australian Opera, another award-winning architect and academic Bill Lucas, also on Wikipedia, Vito and your...

Facebook memes I want to remember. From late March to early April 2020.

My stepping up regime. 18.600 steps per day.  Amazefit GTR Taking steps rules my day and I set out to exceed 18.600 steps per day or well over the 10.000 steps considered a mark of fitness and well being. My target is 12000 steps but I exceed it by far sometimes doing up to 25000 steps when I'm out somewhere. In fact, I plan my day around these targets and 18.600 is like a magical figure. Walkers have their superstitions but I'm sure my toes won't fall off if I go another number of steps. But there are variations depending on factors such as rain, heat, indoor steps when watching or listening to something of interest, eg music, podcast, football game, YouTube video and so on. When it’s warm inside I turn on the air-conditioning to keep cool. Cool’s the rule and I avoid sweat at all costs. I don't like being a sweaty guy. So perhaps most of my steps are indoor jogging of sorts which can annoy Cathy who fears it’s damaging our flooring. It certainly puts h...

My Nocturnal Habits The retirement Blues Perhaps people my age, and retired, have the same struggles every night 1) to get to sleep and 2) to remain asleep without the aid of sleeping pills. After all, we don’t have to front up to work the following day, and perhaps our partner also sleeps badly and sets back the Arcadian cycles in our lives. Are the retirement blues a nightly challenge?  Can catnapping restore energy to the day? From a historical perspective, and I’ve read this in multiple articles, in times past, particularly medieval times, serfs and others, or most people labored hard in the day and after an evening meal and tired would have their first sleep of the evening. Three or 4 hours later they would wake and be active for a while before resuming sleep, that is have their 2 nd stage of sleep. Sounds credible to me. “ Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep ”. Are you like MacBeth? Of course, insomnia is widespread these days with many many pe...

Written 6/3/2017    Mark Colvin died on 11 May 2017 and Thomas announced his death on The World Today. Dear Mark I greatly enjoyed reading your book, Light and Shadow, a requested Christmas gift from my son Thomas. Like you I am an avid reader and Light and Shadow was the last of many books I read in 2016, and arguably the pick of the year. I particularly liked the blending of the personal and historical, as I lived through many of those years, as a constant ABC viewer, listener and news junkie in general. I noted with amusement Lee Duffield “covering the mouth” of a colleague at a JJ meeting in the 70s. I have known Lee and his ex-wife, and colleague, for many years. Indeed Di visited us just before their departure for Belgium and Lee’s European posting. As luck would have it we had friends in Brussels able to accommodate the Duffields upon their arrival. Early this year we had a family reunion and the subject of books came up, as it often does, and I recom...