Neil's final decade

last post

Neil — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:58:29 +0000

Years ago – in fact at the beginning of the twenty-first century or the end of the twentieth, depending on the way you count, I started blogging – or journalling. Back in September 2007 I noted: Midnight tonight 24SEP That’s when my download allowance is renewed and I can resume my ranting. Meantime, I notice [...]

Saw Peter Weir’s “The Last Wave” over the weekend on NITV

Neil — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:32:53 +0000

1977 seems such a long time ago. And I couldn’t help asking whether – brilliantly done as it is even if Richard Chamberlain is so forgettable – The Last Wave really is a lot of tosh. Did it rather show Indigenous Australians as white hippy mystics wanted them to be? After all, this was a [...]

Well said, Bert

Neil — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:26:48 +0000

Dreadful choice we have in this year’s election, but perhaps some things really are more dreadful than others. This morning in the Sun-Herald is a letter from Bert Candy. The decision by the executive of the Liberal Party to give Cory Bernardi the top position on their Senate ticket in the forthcoming federal election – [...]

Brilliant article on Google, plus an English teaching thing

Neil — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 23:19:24 +0000

Did you see Tim Adams on Google and the future of search: Amit Singhal and the Knowledge Graph? It appeared online on 19 January, but I only caught up with it via the ink-and-paper Guardian Weekly on Friday. It is a major must-read. Thinking about Google over the last week, I have fallen into the [...]

The dreaded Stats Post

Neil — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:05:53 +0000

How went January 2012? Well, weatherwise Giant heatwave delivers hottest January on record and quite a few of my posts last month reflected that. On the Floating Life blogs Sitemeter’s verdict is steady as she goes, pretty much: 5,186 visitors compared with 4993 in December 2012 but 6,041 in January 2012. There were 7,160 page [...]

E’en such is time…

Neil — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:55:51 +0000

Dear me, where did the years go? 1965 – had just mastered typing 1988 – before Internet – still a computerphobe 2000 – my blogging begins 2013 – after all those blog entries Just shows that blogging ages a person, eh! And FIFTY years – 50!!! – this. Last night I was playing The White [...]

Still a slave to computers

Neil — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:11:45 +0000

Baby HP is still being demanding. It runs Windows XP you know. Seems a long time since I last used that. Baby HP’s way of installing updates is very secretive compared with my eMachine on Windows 7. Yesterday Baby installed 60 updates from Microsoft, not to mention all the changes and updates I have been [...]

Setting up a “new” computer…

Neil — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 06:18:29 +0000

… takes so long and is SO frustratng! Two days now I have been at it. You may recall Replacement for Baby Toshiba. My main Christmas celebration was the day before. M came down in the afternoon. After a chat at Diggers with a friendly old lady we went for a beer or two and [...]

To Sydney on Sunday–8 car trains, M, Jim Belshaw

Neil — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 22:53:14 +0000

A regular complaint from travellers between Wollongong and Sydney is that out trains come in four car sets, which can lead to some uncomfortable overcrowded journeys. But they have been listening, it appears. Joining two sets to make 8 cars to Sydney on Sunday morning. The 5.30 pm express back was 8 cars as well. [...]

Not quite what it may seem at first…

Neil — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 10:35:06 +0000

At Wollongong Station this morning. Passing freight train. I spent the day in Sydney. More later. Filed under: Australia, Wollongong

Inspiring people: true Aussies both

Neil — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:41:29 +0000

Two from last night’s Australian of the Year Award – with an eye to the future. Young Australian of the Year 2013: Akram Azimi "This bloke is a legend already," says one commenter. Akram Azimi is a dedicated mentor to young Indigenous people. Arriving in Australia 13 years ago from Afghanistan he went from being [...]

In 1983 I learned more than I knew I was learning…

Neil — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:01:56 +0000

At that time I lived in Glebe and was in some ways at a rather low ebb, in hiatus from teaching but still editing Neos. I lived for a while in a boarding house in Boyce Street with assorted students, crims and schizos and one or two ordinary folk. It was an education. Among my [...]

Dhakiyarr vs The King on NITV last night

Neil — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:03:33 +0000

In Three documentaries–one of them a surprise thanks to NITV and How NITV and ABC News 24 have transformed my TV habits… earlier this month I recommended Channel 34 should become a regular part of our viewing. Indeed, I can think of few better ways to celebrate Australia Day than to go on over to [...]

Monday night ABC1–”The Grammar of Happiness”

Neil — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:32:43 +0000

I watched this with interest. The Grammar Of Happiness follows the story of Daniel Everett amongst the extraordinary ‘unconvertible’ Amazonian Pirahã tribe, a group of indigenous hunter-gatherers whose culture and outlook on life has taken the world of linguistics by storm. As a young ambitious missionary three decades ago, Dan, a red-bearded towering American, decamped [...]

As so often, a “yes but” reaction…

Neil — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 23:37:40 +0000

Did that annoying trick (to some) of posting yesterday’s lunch on Facebook. And a fine $10 roast lamb lunch as one could ever hope for from the lovely Sophia at the Wollongong Hellenic Club. Ex-SBHS student Russell Ward noted: “Nice lunchtime reading!” Indeed. The book (Lawrence, Bruce (2006) The Qur’an: A Biography) is a delight [...]

Mostly Australian…

Neil — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 00:50:41 +0000

First something that includes but goes beyond our patch: the annual summary State of the Climate Global Analysis 2012 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Climatic Data Center (USA) is now available. Global Highlights The year 2012 was the 10th warmest year since records began in 1880. The annual global combined land and ocean [...]

Currently reading…

Neil — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:44:15 +0000

Yes, the Proust project continues in fits and starts. I find I can travel over to Proustland and stay for several hours with enormous pleasure, then go elsewhere for a day or a month and return where I had left off to take on that special world once more. I am now into The Captive [...]

Yum Yum Cafe closed by yesterday’s record heat

Neil — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:08:20 +0000

This morning it reopened after the overnight southerly change: While it is not mentioned by name there, read the Mercury’s report: Cafes shut, people faint as mercury passes 45. The temperatures were about five degrees higher than forecast. There were multiple triple-0 calls for cases of heat exposure, including for a 70-year-old man at Windang, [...]

Too hot to write…

Neil — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 04:49:13 +0000

Albion Park (Wollongong Airport) is on 44C right now and that – or more — is what I surely felt in one of the hottest winds I can remember as I walked from the bus to The Bates Motel. The “official” temp for The Gong measured at Bellambi Point is always way below what we [...]

Relax

Neil — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:09:08 +0000

Filed under: personal, photo post, Wollongong

Whatever… Is your patch family friendly?

Neil — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:17:39 +0000

A minor susurration could be heard across the land in response to the Suncorp Family Friendly [TM] Survey. The Gong was pissed off. Overall: 21st out of 30 Crime rate per 100,000 – 6323 (9th) Number of visits to GP services per resident – 5.9 (25th) Number of children at each school – 494 (8th) [...]

Three documentaries–one of them a surprise thanks to NITV

Neil — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:36:10 +0000

No matter how you look at it, the key fact in this country’s history since the 18th century is dispossession. On the other hand none of the current possessors/inhabitants is going anywhere. That’s the paradox we have inherited and have to deal with. And then the strangers came… On Sunday I watched the excellent episode [...]

Consider–my world 1952 to 1959. Thoughts on the origins of belief.

Neil — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 01:40:15 +0000

Here was my world from 1952 to 1955-6: Vermont Street Sutherland, NSW. And here I am in that world, towards the end of the period. That is April 1955 and I am in the front yard of 1 Vermont Street with my mother. I am 11 years old, and newly at Sydney Boys High. I [...]

Given a choice between romantic piffle and actual history…

Neil — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:55:43 +0000

… most of us prefer piffle, especially patriotic piffle or piffle serving some political agenda, be that left or right. We may get a serving of piffle tonight on SBS on the subject of Eureka, which has attracted much well-intentioned piffling and some not so well-intentioned – a bit like Ned Kelly. Tonight’s SBS offering [...]

Re Yours and Owls

Neil — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:20:00 +0000

This venue is one of The Gong’s real highlights. Lovely afternoon in The Gong tells of my first visit there. And subsequently. I haven’t been there so much in the past ten months as the opening hours tend not to coincide with my being in the vicinity. The reason I mention all this is Angela [...]

Perspective

Neil — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:41:26 +0000

Loved this counterweight to short-termism on the economic front. Read the story linked to that graph by all means, but I get enough of a charge out of just looking at the fact that the biggest spenders in recent years were the Howard governments. Meanwhile, I am of two minds about The Greens still. Today [...]

Cooler yesterday and today

Neil — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:06:10 +0000

… but still rather warm and humid at night. A post-lunch rest at The Diggers Club where I also met up with ex-student Doug P and his son and daughter, whom I had not met before. Filed under: friends, personal, photo post, Wollongong

On yesterday in The Gong and climate change

Neil — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:43:34 +0000

Fortunately I have air conditioning. Unfortunately I am a pensioner. But comfort won over the future power bill. In The Gong: The heat is still on for the Illawarra, with more hot weather predicted for the region, bringing the risk of further bushfires. Temperatures in the region climbed quickly on Tuesday, doubling between 5am and [...]

Some bits kind of relevant to today in Illawarra…

Neil — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:06:39 +0000

Well, the first is. And I am ashamed to say I had clean forgotten about it. See Black Christmas 2001-2. Helensburgh is on the northern side of Illawarra, north of Otford, up against The Shire and the Royal National Park. After lunch a dark brown cloud came out of the Appin, Darkes Forest area. At [...]

Bushfire warning

Neil — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:02:31 +0000

Tomorrow could be horrendous. Let’s hope not. Get out now, commissioner urges most at risk. The state’s RFS boss has declared Tuesday one of the worst first danger days on record and urged residents in the most high-risk areas – including parts of the Illawarra – to consider getting out tonight. “This is one of [...]