The only one awake inside The Matrix: "All I see are dead people"

There are two movies that have parallels to how I often feel. In "The Matrix" if you happen to be a human that has plugged in then you can deliver whatever carnage you like because man, these "people" you are doing damage to are just part of a computer program.

In "12 Monkeys" Cole keeps going back to a time before the world was destroyed by a rogue virus in an attempt to avert the disaster. Every time he creates, carnage nothing really matters - because the world will die soon, anyway. "All I see are dead people"

And so sometimes when I look around me in the domains that I operate I can't help but see people who are doing something that is ultimately worthless. And the urge is for me to be as rude as I like, because nothing really matters.

The piece of paper in their hand really. doesn't. matter. But I do need to survive in society and so often I keep my mouth shut. I sometimes treat these people as though their piece of paper really _is_ important.

It's a mystery why anyone ever wants to deal with me. But then I suppose there are people who are doing things that really do matter - and then I'm the one pestering them. Because I want to be associated with good things and productive people.

Your ability to communicate says something about you

Imagine being this person who sends a broadcast to about a thousand people:

"Issuing a reminder only of the planned ‘non essential’ power (general lighting and power) isolations that will take place **** between 730am and 1230am TONIGHT."

So which is it - 7.30am, or tonight, have the interruptions already began or are they starting tomorrow?

It's not a big deal, but when the messages you send raise more questions than they answer then you have to understand that people might think that you're not the sharpest tool in the shed.

The Festival of Circus Animals: Letter to Alan

The best song on the whole Circus Animals album in my humble opinion. A heartfelt song with surprising harshness. "Alan" was a roadie who died in a truck accident and the message about death being just around the corner - that's real. From car accidents to street riots and one punch hits to ilnesses that you didn't expect - death really is our constant companion.

The reflection moment about "sitting in a hotel room along Rue St Louis and dialling old phone numbers down the line" reminds me of The Angels "Am I ever gonna see your face again?". Another song about lost friends, and how every battle that we fought together is all just history now because one of us is dead.

Explosive and harsh. And probably one of Cold Chisel's best, ever.



About the Festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The Festival of Circus Animals: When The War Is Over

I've already indicated how I feel about this classic ballad. A plaintive tune about not being able to be nice to the people who are close to you because there is so much shit everywhere. It reminds me of Elvis with "you were always on my mind" and we know how that ended. Sometimes people just need to go off into battle for their loved ones to have a roof over their head; the battle becomes the thing, and you forget where home is.

The song has been covered many times and I think it's because it touches on an existential problem for many of us.




About the Festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The Festival of Circus Animals: No Good for You

As a young male it was hard to imagine a woman being interested in you and that not being a good thing. So it was someone of a growing up tune. And the talk about a drunken night out with the ceiling spinning and you needing a moment alone but the lady in question just keeps pushing the issue.

It's a gentle song but it does have a good message for young guys; decisions you make right now regarding your relationships might have long lasting implications.



About the Festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The Festival of Circus Animals: Numbers Fall

At last we are back into the good songs from Circus Animals. This song speaks about the Australian love of gambling and at the time it seemed really exotic. Gaming wasn't really a thing in terms of gambling and so speaking about Blackjack and Baccarat made it seem really cool yet it's still carried the same grunge of urban Sydney.



About the Festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

I'm not asking your permission; I'm looking for your support.

Ever since I was a 17 year old hoping to join the Airforce I came to realise that the least compelling sell is "I really want this job and I want to work for you". Airforce, in particular had no shortage of fanboys wanting to dress up in the uniform.

Over 30 years later I have found it way more sensible to make sure that I know I can do the job and only apply if I really feel like I have something to offer. Then if the employer or my potential partner chooses against me then I really can tell myself that it is their loss. An get on with it anyway.

And so recently in my passion of skydiving I've simply decided to start running training camps for novice skydivers. I hire a nationally recognised coach and provide a compelling value for money training program. We have a great team spirit on each camp and everybody has fun. Welcome Flatskills Skydiving.

You are welcome to join in if you like. Here I am with Julian, a team member, and Tony - a mate who was talking about sponsorship - just then.

Skydiving nerds: What am I making?

Now that I've gotten fairly confident it using my dad Mum's sewing machine I'm making all sorts of skydiving bits and pieces.

For the skydiving tragics out there what do you think I'm making here?

The Festival of Circus Animals: Wild Colonial Boy

This song is a basic angry young man song and I suppose at the time I liked it. I don't really think I like it now.


About the festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

"Facial Scrub" what a crock!

Sometimes I astound myself with my consumer gullibility.

In a world where people want to hear a story there's no shortage of product market is there to tell you.

So when I bought her facial cleanser I liked the idea of a scrub.

I think it's been showing that scrubs are no more effective and the downside is they release all these polymer microbeads into the environment which get into fish and then we eat them.

What a sucker I can be.

"Do you want to be an employee?"

After I lost a job 5 years ago (ok it was non-renewal of a contract) I was instantly offered subcontractor status. It took a while for me to come to terms with that loss of perceived job security and I had sought out the advice of Ken Phillips from Independent Contractors Australia

Ken asked me a challenging question at the time:

"Do you want to be an independent contractor or do you want to be an employee?"

And at the time I really had to admit to myself that I yearned to be employed. That was 5 years ago. Sure, over this 5 years I have had a very solid anchor client but increasingly the idea of being on someone else's payroll makes me feel wary.

Still, there is a job being advertised at the moment that I like the look of. Never say never.

The Festival of Circus Animals: Houndog

This is a simple tribute to the vastness of Australia and how hard it can be to get around. Similar to the journey they describe in Home and Broken Hearted from their original album - where "I hiked up to Sydney in the week before Christmas, it was 38 degrees in the shade, I bought a second hand Morris for a cheap 220 and I drove it down to Adelaide".

I liked Houndog just as a hard rock song and I knew at the time that really didn't have much of a message. I liked the quirky echo of the Elvis Presley song from decades before, and the fact that there seemed to be really no reason to include the word "Houndog" in the song.

Except now as I read the lyrics he says he's got the "Houndog sittin' on the side of the highway blues". Aha, now I get it.

"I'm sick of getting home, counting my remaining change"


About the festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The Festival of Circus Animals: Taipan

Taipan is the one thing that redeems the pop tune that comes before it on Circus Animals. The whining lead guitar of Forever Now stops quite abruptly and then Taipan starts. And on the old cassette tape it was simply a part of the experience.

Before I'd really started listening to Circus animals I had heard Taipan on the radio and I was amazed at how good it was. Just like "Never Before" from East it had a really different, subcontinental feel to it. Both songs blew my mind.

Taipan brought that sound back to an Australian story. Working for a corporation in a cane field; dirty and backbreaking work and all the while needing to avoid our deadly reptiles. The mental image of canefields burning, reminiscent of Jimmy's later clip of "Working Class Man". The story was later echoed in GangGajang's "Sounds of then" - minus the snakes.

My dad hated most of the music I played and when I challenged him on that - to name a song of mine that he liked - then Taipan was the one he chose.

Now that I think of it I played it on a dinky little record player on vinyl in my room at the back of the house: 22 Roycroft Ace, Salisbury East, 5109.


About the festival of Circus Animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The festival of Circus Animals: Forever Now

A beautiful sensitive song written by Steve Prestwich: I hated this it its day. The song received so much radio play and it was so "pop music" that it drove me crazy. It grew on me as I grew up - and as I just listened to it then it makes me think of the old saying "if you love something set it free etc"

It sounds like a couple who just decided that they will no longer be together but they still part with some tenderness. Maybe I'm reading it wrong but I suppose that's what we do with art.

The elements of Australia is still there though; a huge country, getting on a plane, and in the film clip the dusty dryness outside a basic breakfast cafe that serves instant coffee with bacon and eggs.

The song was all part of the mix of Circus Animals; something has to pay the rent. This was the lead song of Circus Animals, and the film clip had a really nice "getting to know the band" feel about it. A reprise of the "Cheap Wine" vid from a few years before.


About the festival of circus animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The Festival of Circus Animals: Bow River

Circus Animals is the simple working class story about how life is hard, and can be fun. And so here is Ian Moss talking about how much he's been working to save enough money just to get back home. Wastin' my days on a factory floor.

Dreaming about the wind and the rain in the tropics - his special place.

"I don't want to see another engine line, too many years and I owe my mind the first set of wheels heading back to Bow River again."

We all have our Bow River and sometimes it's not a place.

The song starts with Mossy quietly contemplating escape, but by the end Jimmy is screaming about how is going through the door and going to tell the man he don't want no more. And actively looking forward to the release of pissing all your money up against the damn wall.

"Any time you want babe, you can come around. But don't leave it too late; you just might find me gone"



I simply had to include this live version. The guys were 100% in their prime. The chemistry and teamwork showed all the way through with Jimmy beginning on backing vocals and taking the lead with Ian slipping perfectly into backing vocals on the last verse. The blistering harmonica from South Australian David Blight makes this an explosive anthem for working class boy.

About the festival of circus animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it had about 18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes did. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

The Festival of Circus Animals: You Got Nothin' I Want

It was about 1982 and the Cold Chisel had previously tried to crack the US with "East" - another rocking album. Legend has it that the guys went into the boardroom to be given the bad news and when they stepped back out again the entire office floor was empty. Everyone in the record company was scared shitless over how the band would take it.

They returned to Australia and it seems they decided to work within their boundaries. Jimmy continued to scream, Mossy continued his ripping lead breaks, Don wrote some more scarifying stories of suburban Australia, Phil Small amazed us with his bass, and Steve Prestwich (RIP) worked magic with a set of skins and cymbals - as well of his magical ballad. We'll deal with that as track 9.

And their return album had four messages:

1. Fuck you, American record companies
2. Life is a gamble and nothing is guaranteed
3. Australian working class life is tough, but can be fun
4. Fuck you, American record companies

Points 1 and 4 are encapsulated in this song. It's a philosophy that has served me well enough as I go through my life, when people have thought they have me beaten. They truly had decided that the American record companies could go screw themselves. And we kept our suburban Australian dinosaur band.

Thank goodness.


About the festival of circus animals
I was 15 years old when the "Circus Animals" album came out, but I only really started paying attention to it at age 17-18 as I entered the workforce. It was the fourth of about five studio (original) albums. It wasn't the only musical influence on my early adult life, but I did grow up and start working around the same sort of places as Jimmy Barnes went to school. As an 18 year old angry young man (aren't we all in some way?) this music was talking my language.

A battle for your soul

A guy that I'd like to call my friend, Dan Brodsky-Chenfield perfectly describes a situation that I also had to deal with some years ago.

"Should I abandon my values and have some degree of success in a career, or should I find something else to do? Some other way?"

For me, at the time, it felt like it was a battle for my soul. I wonder if I saved it or is it just window dressing?

I'm lovin' "Above all Else" - the story of Dan's journey.

My 52 year old son, trolling the list brokers

I couldn't think of a more enjoyable scam myself. At some time when Jonah was forced to fill in his personal details when buying a game or a can of deodorant by mail order he entered his age as being 52.

And so when I went upstairs to say hello this morning he had direct mail that was trying to sell him annuities and prepaid funeral plans.

I think that's a little game I might start playing for myself.

Milo: Court Jester, Larrikin, Shitstirrer, Troll. Necessary.

Of all things - probably the one thing that really grinds my gears is when people take themselves too seriously. It's not that they don't have a point but when a person becomes so precious about their beliefs and the "right" way of being I just feel this urge to scream.

Back in mediaeval times the court jester was employed because monarchy was aware of this challenge to their own decency. It was the court jesters job to be irreverent and challenge the king. We need the court jesters. Over time these people have also been variously known as the larrikin, the shitstirrer, and most recently the troll.

These "agents provocateurs" have been in the guise of Russell Brand, Tim Minchin, and a bunch of other names that quite often appear on our ABC. And there is Milo Yiannopoulos.

Someone recently impressed the hell out of me some time ago when I asked him do you like "Milo Yiannopoulos?" He said "I'm not sure I like him but I like that exists". That made me feel very proud.

I wrote recently how we must let "the idiots" have their say, and then we say how we feel about what they say. It worked with One Nation last weekend as they got slammed in the Queensland election, and same sex marriage is all in the process now - after everyone had their say. The sensible centre are on board - we must trust them.

I don't consider Milo to be an idiot but as a country we desperately need him to have his say. I will be going to see what Milo Yiannopoulos has to say tonight. Wherever he does that. I like Tory Shepherd's column: "A dinosaur with good hair and bad logic" but no calls for him to be shut down. Go Tory; go Australia!

My great concern is that I will end up on the television with a bunch of Antifa people tearing at me, physically attacking me, or simply shouting in my face. And I'll be branded a right winger. Because not everybody feels the same way about freedom of speech. If I appear on the news, then this is my story.

Which Australian Prime Minister said this?

Here's a story that Kim Beazley recounts, when an Australian PM met Barack Obama in the White House.

“Well, Mr President, I don’t actually have a list of complaints; I know most people who come to this office have a list of complaints. I’ve got nothing to complain about to you. Others come with a list of things that they want from you. We don’t want anything from you.”

and then:

“But I want to say one thing. I think you’re about to get into a lot of trouble in the Middle East. And when you do, I want you to understand this. We are going to be with you and we are going to be with you in numbers.”

That impresses me, and you may be surprised to find out who said those words.

"Water Conservation Measures" - pffft

Yeh yeh. Back in 2003 you were the villain of the century if you watered your lawn. The SA government had what was called water conservation measures and it was dressed up as saving the environment.

Nevermind that South Australian domestic use was only 4% of the total state's usage but we were all pilloried if we put a sprinkler on after 10 a.m. in the morning.

Call me cynical but I've seen too much of this before. Back then they put a moralistic spin on water usage to solve a practical problem. They simply didn't have water storage or desalination to service their domestic market.

Now it's "use as much as you like as long as you pay for it" but as I see it the environmental challenges aren't any fewer than they were 15 years ago.

Pffft.

Supercharged Impulse purchase inducement

I just got to thinking about the nature of Impulse purchase in this brave new world of supermarket self serve.

I expect that when people are scanning their own groceries they probably don't have that loose mindspace where they have to fill it with deciding they're going to buy something.

And perhaps the supermarkets and brand owners are seeing that. Hence the chocolate bar prices that you only really saw at super discount outlets.

Casualties for 2017

These are the people that I know have walked away from me, thinking "what a complete asshole". They're four very different people from different walks of my life, and they only really have one thing in common. They irritated me at some point.

These people are good, honest people - all with a very good heart and I am not glad they hate me, but you don't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Every one of these fallouts have caused me a sense of personal reproach. I should be better.

At certain times throughout the year I have allowed my mask of affability to slip. Dealing with people takes so much energy for me - people who don't know me wish they were my friend. The people who do know me are painfully aware that nobody should want to be my friend.

People who take the time to really know me - well they have a fierce ally. I thank God for both of them.

So the casualties of 2017 are:

[Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted]

I wish I could be better, and have nobody on this list. But it's been a big year. And as far as the list of people that I consider irredeemable - only two:

[Redacted]
[Redacted]

As Rudyard Kipling said "being hated don't give in to hate". Well, I hate about half as much as I'm hated, in 2017.

As Jules said at the end of Pulp Fiction:

"[I've only just realised that] I am the tyranny of evil men. But I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying so hard to be the shepherd."

The only time that seems too short is the time we get to play...

At the moment I am really enjoying working with students of all types as they design research projects, collect data, analyse it and present.

It's an honour. And sitting with them as they take ownership of the research process is great time. In a classroom, in a pub, in the hallway. Always good.

And there's the other stuff. Admin, counselling, following up, travelling.

And the only time that seems too short is the time I get to spend across a table with the students who are truly in charge of their own stuff..

"We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in our hotel rooms
And wander 'round backstage
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came"

And it reminds me of this song:

"Let the fools speak"

Sometimes the people of Australia impress the hell out of me. I like that there was a resounding vote of yes to marriage equality. The Australian people tend to make good decisions when they are given the choice. So I hate the shutting down of debate that I often see. In a very general sense we should let the fools speak and let the people decide.

Consider Queensland, the state that is sometimes the butt of jokes about being perhaps a little unintelligent. That state just destroyed the One Nation party and relegated Pauline Hanson to a fringe dweller. I think I like Pauline Hanson, however I disagree with most of what she says. But in this great country Pauline Hanson got to say what she wanted. And the Australian people got to say what they thought about that.

I don't think Pauline Hanson is a fool but I believe in the principle of "let the fools speak and let the people decide". I don't think Milo Yiannopoulos is a fool either, yet I am going to watch him speak and all I am going to watch the social dynamics that surround him. I just hope that next Friday night his function won't be shut down by protesters and I lose my money.

Or worse, that I end up on the TV screen being called a Neo-Nazi because I went along to look. Sometimes Australians disappoint me, and you can guarantee that if I'm getting jostled and abused, then I'll be feeling a little disappointed.

I once did wine research

I'm in Singapore for the second to last time. I think I have some work to do here in January but that will probably finish me up on work gigs to Singapore.

I've been coming here to do work since 2002. I think I'll sort of miss it. I might see if I can find a job here. Or somewhere else remote from Adelaide.

But walking through UE Square does remind me of when I spent a huge amount of time in this wine store doing a wine shelf experiment.

I think I have a few blogs and photos left in the vault. I'll probably roll them out with a sense of nostalgia over the next month or so.

Man that was a long time ago.

From the vault: Good people going evil

Originally 4/9/2010

Boredom, peer group pressure, power imbalances. I have watched (and been) a good person caught up in the group hysteria that crushes some people. It's shocking.

I was recently listening to a podcast about the Stanford prison experiment - 1971 - that documents the descent of good people into doing bad things:

"In 1971, 23 American college students' lives were changed by the now notorious Stanford Prison Experiment. For the eminent psychologist responsible, Philip Zimbardo, the parallels to the atrocities at Abu Ghraib are palpable. In an exclusive Australian interview, he joins Natasha Mitchell, to reflect on the capacity in all of us to commit evil. It's a case of good apples put in bad barrels."

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2007/1986435.htm

The danger of thinking clearly

This journalist - Paige Taylor - will be pilloried because she has been prepared to think seriously about an issue. A complex tragedy with good and evil behind every door. As I often say "critics give away more about themselves when they criticise".

It can't all be carrots

In a world where there should be carrots and sticks. Praise for performance and consequences for making dumb mistakes. I was interested to find that some students pulled together a group complaint about me and sent it up the chain of command. They may get their wish and I'll be taken off teaching this course.

That would be unfortunate.

In related news, I just checked (on a second submission) how many of the students just made the same mistake. Out of 15 - only one. A reduction in skwewup rate from 30% down to 7%. The employers and supervisors of the future can thank me later. So can the students, but chances are that I'll be gone.

It can't all be carrots, but sometimes we can make the sticks a cheap lesson.

Departures lounge

I like this use of words.

When is a mango not a mango?

I'm here in Cairns where mangoes grow on trees. Yet they still sell for about $3 each in the supermarket, and growers out on the Tablelands are letting the rot on the ground. So when is a mango not a mango? When it's a part of "the total product".

Wrong paradigm: Nobody expects to be evaluated on their results

I recently set a (tiny, 2%) task for some students whereby they got measured on results rather than the effort.

I asked them to trim up a data file and then share it with me through - pretty much - any cloud method they wanted.

I made it very clear that the only thing I wanted to do was click on the link and open it up. I had told them that I could be anywhere and using any account. I might be in Botswana, I might be using a Gmail account or Hotmail or whatever.

A significant number failed. They mistakenly introduced authorities that meant I couldn't read it; they shared rather than providing a shareable link - there were a fair few ways to screw this up.

And only one way to get it right.

When they got right I would just click a hyperlink and download the file.

Imagine the outcry when I failed them purely because they could not get me the file.

• "But I work so hard on this"
• "But I need to be able to pass this"
• "But all you needed to do was contact me so that I could fix it up"
• "You know what I meant"
• "I don't understand computers"
• "Maybe there is a language problem"

It has been interesting to see what happens when you force people to be assessed on results rather than the effort they put in. And the idea that a whole heap of effort might come to absolutely nothing because of one simple mistake - unthinkable!

"Welcome to the party, pal!" Welcome to life.

Score one for the doctrine of separation of powers.

I love the way that the citizenship 7 were sweating on the finding of the High Court.

I like it even more that it was the deputy prime minister that was sweating. That is the beauty of our government and judicial system.

Two completely separate arms of management that makes the laws and interpret the laws. Somebody was very clever some time ago to decide that you could not make a law in advance that would accommodate every possible situation.

And so we have the doctrine of separation of powers.

In a world of imperfect humans perhaps this is a way of muddling through the mess?

Housework and Damned Statistics

Self serving, I suppose, but:

The old saw of Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics comes up to me all the time. Reporting numbers give them a credibility that they often do not deserve.

The recent Australian census indicated that women were doing the largest share of the housework. That sounds like a misapplication of the word "share".

Who decides how much housework there is to do in a house? If one person is happy with a dirty floor, a filthy toilet and mess everywhere then their idea of total housework hours per week is probably only 5. A person who wishes to live in a monument might have an underlying thought that 20 hours a week is the total required amount of housework.

That sounds to me like a question that needs to be determined between the couple, but just because one person thinks the hours should be higher doesn't make it the right thing.

So if there are a total of 20 hours per week of housework done in a house then the damn statistic is that one person is doing three times the amount of the other. Context: By their own choice.

Or as a person might rudely say:

"Everybody needs a hobby - if yours happens to be polishing silverware then who am I to stop you?"

Junk Science rules

In a world where people have access to all sorts of information but lack the intelligence to separate bullshit from solid argument, junk science is king.

Glyphosate is an excellent and safe chemical and the recent talk of it being harmful to health:

The entire case against glyphosate is one “monograph” from an obscure World Health Organisation body called the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which concluded that glyphosate might cause cancer at very high doses. It admitted that by the same criteria, sausages and sawdust should also be classified as carcinogens.

came out of a "pay to publish" journal and should be thrown into the same basket of junk science as vaccines cause autism:

Scientists and organizations across the world spent a great deal of time and money refuting the results of a minor paper in the Lancet and exposing the scientific fraud that formed the basis of the paper. Appallingly, parents across the world did not vaccinate their children out of fear of the risk of autism, thereby exposing their children to the risks of disease and the well-documented complications related thereto.

Conspiracy theorists are sometimes the greatest enemy of reason.

What makes you a friend - or an enemy?

I consider myself to be a fairly simple person. If you are wondering whether I consider you to be a friend or an enemy just remember that I am trying to get a bunch of things done. That makes it all so much simpler.

If you are assisting me - in some way - to get my things done then you are a friend.

If you are holding me back from getting my things done, then you are an enemy.

Sure it does mean that people are friends and enemies in all sorts of rotations. But it really is as simple as that. And as complex.

If you don't give up on me then I won't give up on you

There are few instances in my life where I have not played the game this way. I am not in a habit of giving up. When I detach from a task it is mostly because I have worked out what I need to put in and measured it against the rewards of succeeding.

But if the people I am working with decide to give up on me then I have even less motivation to persevere. I will not bail, but if you wish to bail out the I won't beg you to stay.

Mostly - if you don't give up on me, then I won't give up on you. I might go missing but I won't be lost forever.

Me and Jesus

Strange conversation the other day where I had mentioned that I thought Jesus was a pretty cool guy. The person I was speaking to said "but he's not real are you kidding me?".

I wasn't particularly offended just surprised at how hamfisted this person was about a topic that's normally quite close to people's hearts. But I think that is why this person has troubles with just about everybody that she deals with.

Anyhoo the discussion did cause me to wonder how much are really matters whether Jesus really existed or not. For sure I think Jesus existed and I'm happy for people to say that it's an open question about whether he really is the son of God.

I finished saying to this person that even if he didn't exist it's still a great story and it's still a great set of virtues. I can also watch a movie and think that John McLane is a cool guy.

So that's that.

I won't back down: Tom Petty is dead

The people who wrote the songs who define me - they keep a dyin' - this one at 66. One year younger than Mum. Might've trashed his body a little more than her, too.

As a 19 year old trying to work out what type of person I was this song came along and I still can't help but think it sort of does set out what I think is important.

"Well I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground"

I don't back down, but I have been known to slip sideways..
https://youtu.be/nUTXb-ga1fo

Well, I won't back down
No, I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

No, I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground

And I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won't back down

Well I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground

And I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won't back down

Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
No, I won't back down

Brand

So people in marketing think that a brand is a huge thing. It sort of is.

But sometimes it is just as simple as an establishment number on a piece of meat.

I don't know what 2261 is but it could be found here

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.ausmeat.com.au/docs/AUS-MEAT%2520Accreditation%2520Listing.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiOkIvMpb3WAhVEUbwKHduVDLgQFggoMAA&usg=AFQjCNFQKmMDQiPDb1J81wlA2C0EQpFA4A

A friend talking from the dead

Somebody is managing Stacey's account and must've clicke the "Join Messenger" button, giving me a notification. Stacey died quite some time ago. She was my sister's best friend. And this reminds me that she was very much my friend, too..

Kerry Packer and loyalty

Sometimes certain thoughts come back to me. This: "I believe you offer loyalty to everyone, which is not as big a strain as it sounds, because very few people pick it up."

http://insidestory.org.au/kerry-packer-the-interview/

Legacies of Mum

Perhaps this is what grief is.

The tangible things that link you to the one you've lost just tend to become fewer and fewer.

Clearly my mum was a tight arse like I am. And she clearly liked sweet things like I do. So her McDonald's spoons from the sundaes she must have eaten were just bound up with a rubber band.

I tucked them away somewhere when I cleared her house.

A while back Sylvia asked me if I have any spoons of any sort that I can just put in the kitchen drawer for kids to take  to school with yoghurt.

Soon those spoons will all be used up and that is how things go. One more tangible memory of Mum is gone and life goes on.

I love her and I miss her, but if she was still around I'm sure I would still be an asshole to her. But I am so glad for the people in my life who love her too.

Life is not a box of chocolates

It was early in my relationship with my wife that I came to learn the number of Tim Tam chocolate biscuits there are in a pack. Eleven. Cynically I believe that prime number was chosen so that there is no chance of being able to share the pack evenly amongst any number of people.

And the sharing of a pack was what brought me to understand how my wife and myself were different at a fundamental level. Sylvia believed it was "5 for me and 5 for you and one to share".

I had growin up in a situation of "the person who eats the fastest gets the most".

And that probably outlines my approach to life right now. Life is not a box of chocolates - it's a pack of Tim Tams, and the more I can take right now the more I will get. The future will take care of itself.

The weather is good and I'm headed out to Langhorne Creek to do some more skydives. There are about a dozen people who believe I should be doing something else - something that more directly benefits them.

But I'm here to eat my pack of Tim Tams, not so much to provide chocolate biscuits for everybody who demands them of me.

But my greatest pleasure is doing things for other people where I feel like I had a choice in the matter. Sharing my pack of Tim Tams.

Life sure is a pack of Tim Tams.

The significance - to me - of Veuve Clicquot

I grow more and more like my mum, particularly in the way I tell the same story over and over and forget that I've told it. So my sister probably had heard this story before she gave me a bottle of 2008 vintage Veuve.

I once bought a bottle of the lovely French champagne and promised myself that as soon as I learnt of the death of a certain past associate, then I'll pop the cork immediately wherever I was.

There was no reason to believe this past associate was going to die anytime soon - I just relished the idea.

The significance of this is that it helped me recognise that hate imprisons a person. It's like swallowing poison and hoping that the other person dies from it.

So the significance is the freedom that I received a few years later when I casually popped the cork with some students in a celebration of their study.

That horrid nemisis is as alive and as well as ever although - I expect - living their own hell on the inside. However I too am alive and well, as well as being free.

Little India Back to Where it All Began

Singapore traveling for work is about to come to an end. It has been great and I wish I could go for longer. But nothing lasts forever

And tonight I missed my flight. So after two and a half hours of dithering around the airport I am back in a taxi on the way into Singapore Central at 1.30am. Now I really miss my family.

And because I am paying for my own accommodation I will be at the Hotel 81. Just as it was when I was trying to make a dollar stretch when I was working on a Singapore wine retail project.

Another arc that brings me home again. I think I only have one more trip to Singapore left. And that saddens me a little.

$8 of water

We are shipping plastic around the country. Bizarre. And I'm a part of the problem.

Drugstores' war on aspirin

My painkiller of choice is aspirin. It's the nearest thing I have to a natural remedy.

Hundreds of years old maybe more and an extract from Willow bark.

It is amazingly cheap I can buy 12 tablets for about a dollar fifty in the supermarket.

That's why it is so hard to find in some places. In the US it is cheap but there is only one SKU - in Singapore The Guardian Pharmacy simply didn't sell aspirin.

There was aspirin mixed with glycine I think for about $9 a dozen cap capsules. And the aspirin was only 100 mg. And in the US that was selling low dose aspirin - tablets with a quarter of the active ingredient - to prevent heart disease at twice the price of regular.

It seems that if you want a painkiller they want you to spend huge amounts of money on ingredients that you don't know or understand. That's the world we live in.

I've done all the dumb things...

My theme song, done cool. I applied to me in 1988 and ever more so as I turn 50. For me it doesn't get too much better than this...

Expensive luxuries: ignoring or disrespecting your customers

It's no big deal. But if I turn out to an ice cream stand that has not customers looking at the person who owns it with my wallet in my hand there's a fair chance that I am looking to buy.

If the person running the stand is casually finishing a conversation with his friend hasn't made eye contact with me and doesn't look like he plans to well I will just walk away.

It seems that the most expensive luxury a business person can have his that luxury of ignoring the customers.

Show this guy was just foregoing a $1 sale. Interesting that it's often young people I see doing this but this guy was 75 years old.

He didn't need my poxy $1.

Oh I much prefer "Boat Quay"

As I get older I come to realise a number of strange behaviour patterns and speech patterns in people.

One of these patterns is when you mentioned something then the other person mentions a fine variation on that that demonstrates that "I too I'm familiar with the intricacies whatever it is you're talking about".

So I was speaking about Singapore once and I mentioned Clarke Quay bit of an interesting place in the evening.

And my conversation partner at the time said "oh yes but I prefer Boat Quay it's that little more grungy and real life".

No harm, no foul. Just interesting.

My experiment: Virtue signalers identify yourselves

I have the perfect conditions for an observation experiment. I am interested in demonstrating what virtue signaling is, how it comes about, and who in my contacts is prone to it.

Virtue signaling is the process of becoming outraged on another's behalf in order to demonstrate one's own set of enlightened values. or:

"Virtue signalling is the conspicuous expression of moral values done primarily with the intent of enhancing standing within a social group"

We have the perfect experimental stimulus right now. A few days ago respected Kaurna Elder Stephen Goldsmith died. Jamie, faced with the Herculean task of grieving his father began it in the way of his culture. He lit a fire in his backyard to serve as a meeting place for his community. That fire will burn until the grieving process is over - although grieving never really is done. I first saw it in the movie Jindabyne - the movie based on Paul Kelly's haunting song "Everything's turning to white"

But Jamie doesn't live on the foreshore of Port Gawler or the banks of the River Light. Jamie lives in the suburbs of Adelaide and one of his neighbors complained to the council. This happens in the Burbs, and a council has a responsibility to engage. They did. The council officer attended last night and was quickly told the facts of life. The officer left to speak to his supervisor and that was that.

This morning a Marion Councillor was on the radio saying that a permit has been issued, regretting any offense and offering her condolences to Jamie. Well played all.

I like Jamie's point that his religion is the oldest in the country although I note that there are some 600 aboriginal nations. Still, Christianity is a mere pup. And what a shit job, mourning the loss of your dad at 60. I thought I was special losing my mom at 67. Love to you Jamie.

My observation experiment

So the oxygen should have gone out of that story. That did not stop Premier Jay Weatherill from firing a few shots but that was admittedly before the Councillor was on morning radio. As I am spending today mashing buttons on a computer in the name of work I will record the posts of outrage at come across my social media feed.

No doubt I will offend some people. In this case they get the chance to be offended or very real reasons.

[data]

   

Teaching in Singapore is great!

I might not be able to continue to do it for long but it's good while I have it!

Where there's a giver there is always a taker

It's been a busy morning. I am in Singapore on work, but that hasn't stopped a half a dozen acquaintances asking for things from me. At least when it happens in work I get to send an invoice.

Sure these things are all small things and I reduce the total amount of energy that gets spent on getting a job done. But the truth is somebody has an hour of their time saved for me spending ten minutes of my time.

But that is still my 10 minutes. Six of those has lost me an hour. Sure the rest of the world has saved six hours of their time, and I just lost one.

And I found that being a giver is a thankless job. It seems that when you feed the beast it just becomes more hungry, and asks for more.

It's the same with sharing. It seems that the biggest advocates of the whole "let's share everything" are often those who have the least.

Stuff, energy, natural ability, social capital. Perhaps the natural human trait is that when we are deficient in something we find it easier to use somebody else's then build or accumulate it  for ourselves.

And I suspect I am just as guilty of asking a friend to lend a hand when there's really not that much in it for them. I hope I'm mindful of balance - probably not.

South Australia: How did we get here?

When I was a kid and I thought about how hostile forces might overthrow a country I thought that they might do a few things.

Attack from within: the country can fight a known aggressor but when the aggressor infiltrates the government and the social class they are more difficult to fight.

Remove the population's ability to reason: propaganda works that way and so do many other religions and dogmas

Strike at the utilities: Water, Roads, Sanitation Communications, Electricity. Cripple these things and you cripple a country.

So in the wash up of An Inconvenient Truth, surely the forces of darkness have managed to do this with our electricity supply. In South Australia we currently have the most expensive electricity in the world, and some of the least reliable. 

Businesses are leaving the state because it just makes sense, and we have cemented our position as the rustbucket state. My advice to my three children is to get out of South Australia, build a career and come back when it's time to raise kids (or retire).

One of my children had already chosen that for himself, and I have a few young friends who have successfully done just that. Shoutout to Andy and Lolly, who are raising a two month old baby Elliott.

South Australia: How did we get here?

Act now! Chill out...

As I get older I come to realise that there are nonlinear returns to effort. That there is a time to act and act hastily and then there is equally a time to do absolutely nothing - or at least that whatever things you need to do can wait a week or so.

In the garden when it's time to prune a stone fruit, spray soursobs or plant spring seedlings - there is no time like the present, when that present arrives.

It's about the rhythm of life.

I have read stories of soldiers who say that war is either heightened activity or boredom. It seems that a soldier needs to be very good at doing nothing when there is nothing to do.

Certainly in a skydive when one is sitting on the ground or waiting for the plane or on the climb up there is nothing to do. The jump is fun but when one has a malfunction one needs to work very quickly.

And so I find myself this week. When I teach in a university the first few days of a new course kids they really high return for my effort. Students become familiar with the course material and with me and no at it's gonna be alright. Also the week that contains anomalies date is where outstanding student grades all need to be entered to make them available for graduation later in the year.

We have a week where these two things converge in some way. I need to be at my best and I need the people around me to be at their best as well.

And life can return to the lazy pace that it normally has.

Next step: beyond redemption

I recently posted this to Facebook, dressed up as a quote:

"Be careful. If I'm putting a huge amount of energy into you it might just be because I am trying to determine if you are beyond redemption"

I've come to realise that this is my approach to many people and things. Life is so much simpler when I can afford to give up on some things and some people.

But I owe it to those things and people (and to myself) to examine every possible option. In a very practical sense this becomes how I manage a group of, say, 63 students.

In a 12 week course from weeks 1 to 9 I am slavishly dedicated to working with students. I beg them to come and see me for one on one sessions and I deeply engage with their research ideas. Unfortunately for the student who come to me in week 10 (having done nothing at all) I am far less willing to be involved. I'm not as harsh as some lecturers wish they could be when they muse about a snappy comment the night before the exam - "the best reading you can do right now is the Bible".

But with students and in life there is a time for me to cut my losses. After an intense period of trying to make it work, I feel confident that I can drop certain things like a hot potato.

So if I look like I have lost interest in you I can assure you that it wasn't a snap judgement. If you reexamine the period before I went missing, you might work out what I was trying to do.

In the past that has left certain people feeling as though I am just a complete asshole, and from their perspective they are probably right.

And then that feeds my other perspective on life:

"You can't have everybody love you, so in this world you have to choose. I've found it important to have good people saying good things about me and to have bad people saying bad things about me".

Fog in the hills and the nanny state

The nanny state is creeping up on us. Driving through the Adelaide Hills just then and I see that they have variable speed limit signs.

And as the conditions worsened and visibility went down I saw that the speed limit signs had reduced to 40 km per hour.

Now that's all fine but ffs when these days do we expect people to take responsibility for themselves? Sure in a macro sense we reduce accidents and heartache but in an even bigger picture we are reducing the Darwin effect.

If the visibility is bad then ffs slow the f*** down.

Wrapping people in bubblewrap only really creates a protected species of entitled incompetent adults. I see way too much of that already.

Renewed QPMR

I've had the qualified practicing market researcher accreditation for about four years now. I suppose if I'm going to be teaching at and working in it I should have some form of accreditation.

Fake extrovert

There's a certain type of personality that just enjoys being around people. All people. If given the choice between sitting alone with a book or being in a room full of strangers they would choose the room full of strangers. It energizes them.

The world belongs to these people. Social groups, management structures, leisure industries and most extended families are a cacophony of voices - each person jostling for centre stage.

I make my living by doing this. I stand in front of 65 masters students - most who need to feel a personal connection to their lecturer. Many times a week I step outside my comfort zone and look a student in the eye, greeting them with stark honesty. Sometimes that honestly sounds like a compliment, most times it is something the person needs to hear but may not want to hear. Deep engagement.

This is not fun for me. It does not come naturally. I am not a people person, but I understand the requirements of the job.

So in my private time I suppose it's fair that I get to make my own choices. I recently said about myself that:

"I know how to take care of the people that matter to me and I also know how not to take care of the people who don't"

In my private life I spend a fair amount of time trying to work out if some people are worth the effort - from my own selfish perspective. Because I'm allowed to do that, and I only have so much energy.

If there's no paycheck involved and I'm being nice to you, I can assure you it's sincere. If I'm looking you in the eye and sound harsh then that is also a form of compliment. Love is not always about kisses and cuddles.

And I'm trying to avoid you then that's probably the best thing for the both of us, too. I beg you.

Pointless exercises. Sounds just like me.

I realised that I am taken with doing pointless exercises.

In high school while the class was trying to learn how to do something I worked out days before, I would build word puzzles or draw pictures of fighter jets or geometric shapes.

All were pointless and all ended up in scrap.

But there's a beautiful symmetry to that, like building a sandcastle on the foreshore, or even an ice sculpture.

So much of what I do these days ends up being ultimately a pointless exercise. I build courses and create huge levels of student satisfaction for a school in a university that doesn't seem to care about me. I write protocols which are excellent and then somebody else takes the credit for them. I write A journal publications that get published in the year after I get sacked.

I become really good at falling out of a plane in a way that nobody really understands or cares about.

But I think that really suits me. Because I am taken with doing pointless exercises.

And then it's over. So the journey is all there is, as well as what you leave behind.

Where medals are a minor achievement

I won a couple of silver medals last weekend. Novice two way with the marvellous Leah and four way with Danny, Zac and Thomas.

It was very nice to get the DZ Chief Instructor recognition of teamwork / mentor. Very nice, especially from him. But the verbal recognition is only half of it.

I heard it first from Japanese teachings that the good things that other people say about you are a hundred times more valuable than your own statements. Aussies sometimes say that "self praise is no recommendation".

I've always thought​ that when a person calls themself a leader or a mentor they are often a million miles away​ from it. It's for other people to make that judgement.

Or the facts.

And I take pride in the fact that I took 7 people to a camp last week. We learnt some stuff about bodyflying and 4way, and close to swept the state pool in flatfly. In no way am I conceited - I got two second place, and my first ever AFF student doubled my score in two way.

I will never leave the sky, and I will always be "just good enough" but I have loved this week. And the icing on the cake come from the way that two of the women from the camp freebuilt the base on an eight way state women's record effort.

Don't keep business cards of people who don't deserve your time

Not by choice but by affliction I am a collector of business cards. I wear a dress jacket sometimes and every now we can they turn up in an inside pocket. People often push a business card into my hand - perhaps they impressed me at the time, maybe they didn't.

But one thing's for sure. No business card that I've collected over the last 30 years of schlepping around town deserves to sit in the same pocket as the funeral card of a great friend of mine.

Will fought cancer for about 12 months and he was gone a few weeks ago. I will never again hear that quiet wisdom or delight in that wicked sense of humour.

And I think that you should spend no amount of time sitting in a place where things are wrong for you.

And although I really only saw him twice a year, I miss my friend.

Academic tourism

It's not a joke. A "CFP" is acadmic talk for a "call for papers" - you know, where you write an article for a peer-reviewed​ conference in Paris, New York or Murcia, and the people you work for send you there?

Strangely, I don't miss it. There is no free lunch.

How do you sell $20 burgers?

Just a bit of everything. A captive audience - LAX - a good product and a whole heap of chutzpah.

I think I just heard a customer leave calling it "Umami Burglar".

Scammers at the airport gas stations

"Scammers" is a bad word, and I truly don't think of myself as a better person. But I do get a little nervous when approached.

"Wash your widows?", "Got some change?" And a really elaborate one last year "I'm out of gas and I just need a gallon or so to get back home what do you say?".

I don't think it's a complete coincidence that these are the two gas stations that I just around the corner from the rental car depots. I've been to a lot of places in the US and not had much of this sort of approach but this is where the tourists are, right?

Aussies and their Corona

Cheap beer fines.

15 items or fewer - so cute

Stater Bros is a huge supermarket chain in Southern California that is trying to resist the future. No self serve checkouts and those quaint 15 items or fewer aisles.

Freeway frustration

Imagine this moving at 130 km/h. Sometimes it does but many other times you are traveling alone in I-69 hard volume delivery system at 50 kilometers per hour.

I think that's why when the freeways are empty people get even more aggressive.

Scriptwriter: Clive Palmer will go to jail

It's bad form to publicly say "I told you so" but I often wish to.

My two younger kids have come to call me "The Scriptwriter" because my modified version  of "I told you so" is "I could've written the script!".

Years ago when Clive Palmer found his way into Australian Parliament I drew on my memory of Alan Bond and said "One day Clive Palmer will go to jail".

I'm not even saying he's done anything wrong, but I've watched Alan Bond, Lindy Chamberlain, Pauline Hanson and a bunch of other people over the years go to jail. Somehow I think Mr Palmer will also go to jail.

P3 Inspiration

I come here because I'm outside of my comfort zone. Eighteen years ago at about stage 4 of my freefall course I said to myself "perhaps I've found something I want to do that I just can't get the hang of" and of course - I was hooked for life.

And when I come here the challenges are the same. And I just need to listen to hear the things that can help me through. In skydiving and in life:

• Just because we're confident doesn't mean that we're not totally humble, aware of things we need to improve. Larry.
• When someone is low on the formation and skating underneath you, deal with it. Don't be drawn into other people's drama. Kate.
• The best place to go low on a formation is above it. If you're in the stadium and having to fight to stay up, it's way better than being underneath it. Dan.
• It takes courage to fly up close in your slot, but that's the only way we can build large formations. Come and join the party! Kate.
• Don't make your comfort the reason the team gets held up. If you're not comfortable being uncomfortable then this is the wrong sport for you. Chris.
• You can't fix a mistake by making another mistake. If you mess up an exit and end up on the wrong side of the formation then cutting across other people to get to your slot is only compounding the problem. Chris.
• Be calm. Everything in this sport gets better when you're calm. Rehearse your calmness. Plan it into your dirt dive. Dan.
• On performance anxiety: I've seen much worse and believe me you can't disappoint me or impress me. We're all just at different points on a learning curve. Chris.
• There are only about three of the great skydivers that it came naturally to - the rest of us have had to work really really hard at it. It's not rocket science - you can do it if you want to. Chris.
• Three rules. Don't dock until it's ready to be docked, don't dock until you are ready to dock, don't dock until you are ready to be docked on. Tom.
• Don't dock to the formation unless you can improve what's going on in there. Kate.
• When you're approaching the formation you're all timid and not wanting to mess things up. Once you have taking a grip you become part of the base and then nothing should move you. Dan.
• Bigway skydiving you need to skydive a little bit angry. Tom.
• You don't get the nickname you want - you get the nickname you deserve. Mark.

Virtue Signalling: Talk is cheap

Clicking "like" really does not change anything  - it just puts your own voice to the dozens who are muttering the same thing. In this case I don't even "like" the fact that Larissa Waters is breastfeeding in senate. Sure, it's cool.

Making comments bemoaning the state of the world - it goes even beyond cheap "likes". It requires almost no original thought and only serves to say "I'm good aren't I?"

Grownups see this virtue signalling for what it is and try to avoid the trap. And I resisted the urge to hit "send" on my message below..

A convenience culture that just seems to have it wrong

I'm not really sneering at other people's cultures that this one has got me a little bewildered.

There are many big people in the US. And I think there is some talk about obesity classified as a form of disability.

And there are enough people who find walking very difficult. But there has to be something a little wrong with setting up shopping trolleys that you sit on and ride around a supermarket rather than -as a culture that's just doing something about the core problem.

But perhaps Australia is headed that way too.

All God's creatures, but what about snails and slugs?

I'll​ had a funny memory just then and that was about my auntie who was a bit of a strong Christian. She's dead now but everybody these days seems to be dead.

A conversation had been going about how we are all God's creatures. Even snails and slugs. As a kid my question was "if slugs come from Heaven how do the cope with the impact on the landing?"

"Oh, they have very tough skin".

That's as good an answer as any, I suppose. But by then we had already fallen through the looking glass. Perhaps they all just get soft landings, like on this lawn. Perhaps that's God's will, as well.

Perhaps the snails - whose shells would break, get the lawn - and slugs with tough skin have to make do with hard surfaces.

Perhaps God doesn't have a plan, but a Roulette Wheel.

My pep talk to some students..

I wrote it and I might as well share it here..

Remember - we're working as colleagues in this [project]. I'll answer emails (or better - FB Messenger messages) at midnight if I have to. But your part of the deal is that you make sure that when you contact me that you are giving me the very best opportunity to add value to your project. Please make sure you have reviewed, previewed and critiqued your stuff as hard as you can before you send it to me.

My first real research supervisor

Can I share a little story with you? Prof [x] is now a good friend, but it didn't start well. At another University I had been enrolled in a Masters by research against everybody's wishes and [x] happened to be head of school when I was enrolled without a supervisor (untidy I know). I presented a paperwork problem for [x] so he said "put my name in as your supervisor for now".

When I asked if he wanted to see something from me each week he replied "I don't want to see your garbage thinking". It was not an insult. He recognised that we all have ruminations and semi formed ideas. We need to work those up to being respectable before sending them off to someone else.

I'm not being as blunt as to say "don't send me garbage" but I am saying that along with courage, we need to have the self respect to send of what we think is our very best shot at the time. Good academics can tell the difference. I know from bitter experience the embarrassment of sending something (that wasn't the very best I could do) to someone I respect.