Today was our 18th wedding anniversary and we usually celebrate the day with a dinner somewhere. This year, I decided to instead see an exhibition in town followed by some lunch. The Titanic Artefact Exhibition was on at the Melbourne Museum and it was a fantastic one that walked us through gangway right to the […]
Fake News in Our News Media
Everyone is talking about how one of our biggest news channels this week used generative AI to Photoshop one of our politicians photos. Of course she was a young woman and she called it out in X even saying that she knew the photo was clearly wrong because she also has a stomach tattoo that […]
Live Writing
This year I joined Writers Victoria based out of the Wheelers Centre at the back of the State Library of Victoria. The centre supports writers by providing an excellent library, events, workshops and other resources for people to write. Twice a week they run Live Write sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays online. However on the […]
Conversations with People Who Are Still Working and Those Who Aren’t
I’m at this weird age where some friends, family members and acquaintances are still working, close to retirement or just decided to retire early (like myself) brought on earlier than planned due to various factors in their lives such as “post pandemic life rethink”, ageing parents or career transition. I’ve got various groups of friends […]
Colourised Old Films
I spent a few hours today watching old films. When they’ve been colourised and no doubt sprinkled with some magic AI and there’s something that seems a little more “real” about them. Having the soundtrack too makes the film that more emotive so you can’t help but get sucked in. Or to start crying like […]
Reading The Divine Comedy by Dante
It was about time I read this book. We have two copies. The first one is the Oxford Classic which I’m poring over (you have no idea how much I love going deeply into the book with its end notes and references to figures of history and philosophy – which I may add, all happen […]
Holey Moley
A bowling alley, arcade and mini golf course (putt putt) has recently opened up near where we live. We live near an industrial estate and a lot of the factories are now closing down and the area gentrified with boutique breweries, gyms, cafes and restaurants. The new trend to to build these “experiences”. I’m not […]
I Reached 3000 Subscribers on YouTube
A few days ago I reached 3000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. All without using social media to promote it, creating Shorts or using AI for any of it. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes. I don’t think it’ll explode in growth (I don’t want it to) but I think it’ll peter out […]
Pretending Like it’s 1942
Over the last few days I’ve been pretending it’s 1942 in Melbourne. It was a weird time back then. Singapore and Phillipines had fallen to the Japanese and there was a general sense of impending doom. The prime minister of the time, Curtin, inspired Australians to serve and that was the time, the war came […]
A Visit to Prahran Mechanics Institute Library & Toying with a Storyline Idea….
Yesterday was a warm humid day in Melbourne and I had planned to play golf in the morning. However, I decided to change it at the last minute and instead, figure out something else to do with my time. I got online and started searching on YouTube and stumbled upon this little-known fact that the […]
Floodwatch Warnings..Again
We are expected to have 2 months of rainfall in the next day…up to 200 mm. We have had so much rain these last few months that it’s crazy. Most of Queensland is under water too. Floods this year have devastated entire towns. With the recent earthquake, it’s created a crack in our roof and […]
Fake Eyelashes Everywhere
What’s this trend seeing young women everywhere wearing fake eyelashes? Yesterday, I dropped my car for a service and both attendants who were at the desk (one was under training), had the longest eyelashes and her eyes were hidden underneath them. With the longest painted nails that looked like talons, she tapped out my details […]
Ancient Greek Pebble Games
As is my usual custom every year, I started on a health kick. We have a wedding to attend in March so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to lose a few kilos. I’m not going overboard. Simply mindful eating, more whole foods and proteins, less sugar and refined foods, lots of rest […]
How to Lose a Library – Public Books
How ironic that the most quaintly analog form of research possible, using physical books in a physical library, has been devastated by the hijacking of a digital system. — Read on www.publicbooks.org/how-to-lose-a-library/ “Certainly in the context of the United States right now, public libraries are hot potatoes of the culture wars, and public librarians the […]
Happy New Year
Goodbye 2023 and hello 2024. I can’t believe how quickly the years go by now. I stopped work in October 2022 and decided not to return to the corporate world of learning and development or social and virtual technologies ever again. That ship has sailed and in some way, when I think about my past […]
Lake Tuggeranong
A morning walk around this man-made lake in Canberra that was built in 1987 to trap sediment for the Murrumbidgee River, is a picturesque start to any day. All along the east coast of Australia, there has been a lot of rain. Torrential rain resulting in flooding and entire towns cut off. I’ve never heard […]
The Day Before Christmas
The day before Christmas and I’m spending it outside again lapping every bit of sunshine. I thought I’d enjoy the sunny day because as of tomorrow on Christmas Day, there’ll be torrential rain and hail again all week. The only negative out here are the mosquitos. That explains the can of Aeroguard on the table…. […]
Gigantic Mushrooms
2023 was a year for the mushrooms. For one, some woman in some regional town outside of Melbourne tried to murder her family by inviting them to lunch and offering them a mushroom salad. Unfortunately a few died from the meal served but it turned out that it wasn’t the first time she had tried […]
Crazy Weather, Crazy People
I have never been through weather as turbulent as we are experiencing in Melbourne. While the rest of Australia is burning up with the hottest temperatures on record creating bush fires that rage for days, our city has been battered with constant torrential rain, storms and floods. The humidity is 96%. This is unheard and […]
Champagne & A Little Bit of Bûche de Noël
So it seems my little virtual jaunt through Rimes recently to explore the champagne houses, vineyards and underground caves stocked with champagne came in handy. While YouTube can only go so far in firing up my imagination, there comes a time when you simply need to “do it for real”. So it wasn’t exactly a […]