Posts Tagged: Australia

  • Someone caught at the football chucking a sickie

    Chucking a sickie

    Monday is a bank holiday in parts of Australia. It is a “picnic day” for those in finance. And, as is often the case with long weekends, Australians are adept at finding ways to extend them. The Friday before, or the Tuesday after, a long weekend is, statistically, at a higher risk of having lower […]

  • Dark woke—is it here in Australia?

    “Dark woke” is a new term used to describe an aggressive, meme-literate form of progressive activism. It has been coined to suggest political campaigning from the left has adopted a new, more combative style. In the US, dark woke reflects a shift from civility to confrontation—progressive politics attacking the right with sarcasm, irony, and unapologetic […]

  • Image created by Madrigal Communications modified from portraint of Robert Hanbury Brown from International Astronomical Union — the world's first boffin

    Australia’s best boffins

    I was delighted this week to see that ABC Radio’s The Science Show has created a list of the Top 100 Australian Scientists. The scientists are listed on their website. Amongst them is the world’s first boffin. Zoology boffins I studied zoology at the University of New South Wales so was pleased to see on […]

  • Crime fiction sub-genres - cosy and noir

    How do you like your murder?

    My wife is fan of English murder mysteries and for her birthday recently one of her friends gave her a boxed-set of the first eight seasons of Midsomer Murders.  She was excited, however, the rest of us were not looking forward to the prospect of having to sit through fifty episodes of murder at the village fete. I […]

  • Bliss poster Peter Carey and Ray Lawrence

    Bliss

    Bliss means extreme happiness or ecstasy. In a Christian, religious context it is the ecstasy of salvation or the joy that comes from spiritual connection with the divine.

  • Aussie animal road signs in the outback.

    Why Aussie animals have unusual names

    It is Australia Day on the 26 January. When the Europeans arrived they replaced the native languages with a mix of formal English and a collection of odd dialect words from working class London and rural Britain. However, many new words were adopted for the unusual and unique animals that the Europeans had never seen before and for which they had no words. They come from some rather unexpected places.