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Adventures in Spice

I’ve always enjoyed spicy food. As a child, it was a fun challenge: could you eat a slice of your dad’s pizza covered in hot salami, fresh chillies and chilli flakes/seeds? Or poisoning yourself and your friends with Warheads to see who could handle the heat. I haven’t grown out of this. I recently found an Indian take-away with the normal spice options: mild, medium-mild, medium, medium-hot and…

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Bebopbebopalushebop

Well that was far harder than it needed to be. Joe, our business neighbour who deals in clearance goods, gives me a few defective drone to see if I can resurrect any of them. I get out the instructions. Step one, as is always the case with electronics, charge your batteries. I plug them in and nothing happens. Hmm. Not a great start. At first I thought the chargers were defective because no…

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Bye Storky

I’m terribly sad tonight. I have just found out that a girl I never met died almost nine months ago. It’s weird how our emotions work. Sleeping doesn’t seem like an option so I find myself at my keyboard (with a scotch) for the first time in years – at least to write anything meaningful.

Christine started following me after I left a post on a forum – liking my comments, and sending DMs before…

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Revelation

Today provided the most astonishing revelation I would’ve never thought possible. I am currently sitting here shaking my head and muttering ‘wow’ to myself, interspersed with the odd breathy chuckle.

About a year ago, I noticed one of the girls in the office typing out a sequence of numbers into an Excell spreadsheet for some records . Manually. One by one. Directly on top of each other. The…

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A Brief World Cup Final Preview

A Brief World Cup Final Preview

The World Cup final is upon us. A gruelling four year journey for many nations around the globe is now down to two. On one side is France. The pre-tournament favourites have lived up to the hype taking all before them on the path to what appears certain glory. Standing in their way are the perennial underdogs, Croatia, a tiny footballing nation that has continually overcome the odds to secure…

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Pumpkins and Peanuts

Those who criticise the certifiable are often scolded for going after the low-hanging fruit. This tendency to dismiss criticism overlooks just how commonplace said fruit can be. When destructive idiocy lies uncriticised in the mainstream it can only worsen the social environment. We do need to criticise the worst of the worst, but that also has to be proportionate to their acceptance or…

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Bugs!

My cockroach problem began following some renovations. My old rotten timber window frames were nearing the end of their life and had to be upgraded to aluminium. The builder managed to partially destroy my home in the process. Removing one of the frames revealed a bird nesting site under my eaves. The bird and several generations of collected twigs and grasses in various stages of decomposition…

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Urban Hiking

One of the problems with hiking is finding suitable and convenient locations to keep active and maintain or build fitness between our more serious adventures. Australia is fortunate in that we have large expanses of land. Even for the majority of us who reside in the cities or the surrounding suburbs, finding a local park is not that difficult. I have a few nearby that I use routinely for jogging…

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EJ Whitten Legends Game

EJ Whitten Legends Game

Every year when the E.J. Whitten Legends game rolls around, I can’t help but think the concept misses a serious opportunity to fill a void left in the competition since it nationalised. State of Origin is dead and cannot be revived at the elite level: the stakes are too high for the clubs and the players will never be willing to risk injury and earnings on what amounts to an exhibition game, but…

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Neglected Rules of Civilised Discourse: Dog Whistling

Neglected Rules of Civilised Discourse: Dog Whistling

The main problem with dog whistling is its entire concept. Claims to have perceived a dog whistle are simply an excuse for ideologues to get outraged, end conversations, indulge in ‘shaming’ culture, and revel in their own falsely assumed moral superiority, and to do so over absolutely nothing. If pressed, the indignant can’t point to an actual offence, they just feel that something somewhere is…

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What People Are Getting Wrong About The #GoogleMemo

What People Are Getting Wrong About The #GoogleMemo

What people are getting wrong about the #GoogleMemo Or rather, how badly they are understating it. The common, and entirely obvious, observation has been that the reaction by Google and much of the press confirms the concerns of the author, James Damore: a difference of opinion is effectively outlawed, then he is publicly shamed and eventually fired for his ‘crimes.’ Clearly their self-awareness…

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Why I'm Converting to Islam

Why I’m Converting to Islam

I think I will have to convert to Islam. First is the simple matter of convenience. It is hard for us in The West – especially if you happen to be the reviled trifecta of a straight white male – to fathom the benefits of Islamic association. With the backing of Islam you can imprison, torture, rape or kill your opponents, or merely people you don’t like or agree with, and nobody bats an eyelid.…

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A Tale of 3 Tragedies

A Tale of 3 Tragedies

The online feminist community has been rocked by the news that one of their own has been arrested for second degree murder. Aleksandr Kolpakov, of The Skeptic Feminist, has allegedly shot and killed one of his co-creators and intimate partners (yes, plural). Regardless of the eventual outcome of the criminal investigation, one life has been extinguished and another will be changed forever. At…

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Lessons from Hiking

Well, my planned hiking expedition was an epic fail. The original plan was to traverse Lerderderg State Park from O’Brien’s Crossing along the Lerderderg river to Mackensie’s Flat and back, turning the overnight one-way hike into an extended four day trek. My pre-hike was successful. I explored the local region, learned by my starting point was soon to be demoted from a campsite to a picnic…

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Megan Phelps-Roper

Everyone should watch this TED talk by Megan Phelps-Roper, a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church. I remember defending this girl, and her family, after I first saw Louis Theroux’s documentary, ‘The Most Hated Family In America’.   She was always a good person; a strange blend of polite, dismissive rudeness topped with a smile and laugh; an inquisitive, engaging nature; and an evident…

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There's Nothing Left

There’s Nothing Left

The Left has forgotten the first rule: Think global, act local. Their approach is actually perfectly reasonable, given their historical principle of wanting to advance the little guy. That is exactly what they are doing, globally. Unfortunately that is the ‘wrong’ little guy; a little guy in another country, a little guy with no vote to give them the power they need to exercise their plans, and a…

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A Divisive Figure

It has been common following latest developments in the tragedy of James Hird to preface any discussion with the acknowledgement that he is a ‘divisive figure’. Many have rushed to point out that whether you ‘love him, or hate him’, you should have the decency to look beyond his ‘mistakes’ and treat him as a human being. Such comments, while superficially appearing to be well meaning, only…