Family
Today’s Neros fiddle while our planet burns
Climate change. What causes it? Is it happening? Do we need to “do” anything? Carbon taxes, prices, emissions…. the questions are endless. The climate on this planet has changed in the past. There was an ice-age, you will recall. Not many humans around then, so we know some climate change is natural. Then there are the […]
Sexual predators can go to hell
This may well end up being a nonsensical rant, but I’ve just read Prince Andrew is named in a lawsuit in the US over under-age sex allegations. In the last twelve months we’ve had SO MANY high profile convicted or alleged offenders. To name a few, it started, if I recall, with Rolf Harris, arrested […]
Parental Controls and the Internet
When I was a child my parents never had to worry about me getting into trouble on the internet. We didn’t have a TV until I was about ten, let alone computers or mobile phones. This is what I did for entertainment: Now the internet is a parenting challenge. Everything connects: laptops, iPads, phones to […]
Ebola – is this the Bubonic Plague of our generation?
I remember the first outbreak of ebola in 1979. It only killed a few poor, black people, right? Wasn’t impacting on the rich, white people, after all. So why worry about it? "What's wrong w/ how the West talks about Ebola in one illustration" via @Independent http://t.co/ER4MSKqLCu http://t.co/y0qvq3cvbj" — David Jobling (@DJobling) October 17, 2014
Terrorists are terrorists
Let’s get one thing perfectly clear. Terrorists are terrorists. Regular readers know as an atheist I don’t have a lot of tolerance for religions. I acknowledge there are a lot of very good religious people but I believe those people are good people with or without religion: they would be great humanists. Religion didn’t make […]
Where will our kids work?
For quite some time I have been concerned about the commercial drive to move roles off-shore. I’m an accountant, I understand the business drivers to reduce costs and maximise profit. I am sure the concerns I express here were expressed in a similar fashion during the industrial revolution.
Movie review: Lucy
Miss O 1 and Miss O 2 and I don’t often get “girl time” together. When we all liked the ads on TV for the movie “Lucy” I invited them to some mother and daughter movie time. I am very interested in the scientific debate about how much of our brain we really use and […]
Education: who will get some?
Commenting on the 2014 federal budget is something I keep trying to stop doing, but every time I look at a newspaper, I get irritated and feel like wrangling these op-ed writers. Today it was Amanda Vanstone that set my fingers itching for the keyboard. I have periodically agreed, to varying degrees, with Amanda. I […]
How much does it cost to COMPLETELY collect and process that $7?
A little background information for overseas readers added after receiving comments. The situation here is all taxpayers pay a 1.5% levy to fund Medicare. Medicare provides a rebate to the patient for medical consultations and other health related services such as blood tests and x-rays. So let’s say the GP charges $65 for a consultation, […]
Random Observations of Life 