fossil

“If you were designing an organism to look after life in our lonely cosmos, to monitor where it is going and keep a record of where it has been, you wouldn’t choose human beings for the job.’’
Bill Bryson, A Short history of Nearly Everything.
 
A bit about the book
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a fascinating […]

Democracy is a choice, and a difficult one at that.  It is not a product for export.
Democracy is as imperfect and prone to abuse as any other political system.
Our democracy – as bourgeois and vulnerable to the tyranny of capitalism as it is (there aren’t too many poor and homeless amidst our law making fraternity) - is […]

STAR SPANGLED HAM, by Dr Suss
 I am Sam. Uncle Sam I am.
That Uncle Sam, that Uncle Sam I do not like that Uncle Sam. 
Do you like star-spangled ham?
I do not like it Uncle Sam. I do not like star-spangled ham.
Would you like it Iran, my man?
Or in a cave in Afghanistan?
Would you, could you, on […]

It is hard to fathom that we would help attack and occupy a sovereign nation on the whim of a mental midget yet refuse to turn on the tap when the world’s best minds tell us our house is on fire.
The Bush administration and its allies – namely us – invaded Iraq based on the […]

I’m reading Tim Flannery’s The Weather Makers.  
I reckon Flannery’s Australian of the Year award had at least two immediate effects - it pushed sales of his book through the roof and gave John Howard a gastric Ulcer - both good things. 
Flannery’s book is at once terrifying and hopeful. It outlines the devastation that could result from […]