Bitcoin is the new Tulip Mania

In the golden age of exploration, when Dutch ships came home to Europe laden with spices from the Far East, the Netherlands became a place of great and somewhat unexpected wealth. A large middle class, keen to enjoy its newfound riches, emerged. The recently introduced tulip, a beautiful and fascinating flower (I personally am more …

The Rapist Who Is Now A Cabinet Minister

Yesterday, I surmised in my posting that the alleged rapist who is now a Cabinet Minister was from NSW, given that the rape did occur in NSW in 1988. I conceded that it was a long shot that it might be someone visiting NSW. Information has now come to my attention that the long shot …

Sexual Predators in the Corridors of Power

Two major news stories over the past few days have gripped Canberra. The first is the alleged rape two years ago, in the office of a government minister in Parliament House, of Brittany Higgins, a junior press secretary, by another employee in the ministerial office, after some major social occasion. Since then, two other women …

Home Separation Anxiety, or… Old is the New Normal

I have been working from home most of the time the past 10 1/2 months, with the occasional day each week in the office until the hard lockdown was suddenly imposed in late July, and not too many days back in the office since then. Now we are easing back into what semblance we can …

A Shout Out to Friendly Jordie

I have always been rather skeptical about Crikey, a subscriber only alternative news website which has been in existence since around 2000. It was originally started under the name ‘Jeffed’ (a verb which came into being in late 1992 to describe the various unpopular decisions newly elected Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett was taking) in late …

Pandemic reaches a grisly milestone

According to the Worldometer website this morning, 100 million people have now been infected with the covid since the pandemic first broke out some 13 months ago. I expect that by Easter (or not too long after that), this will double to 200 million. I do not want to guesstimate when the current 2.1 million …

Is it lucky when a kangaroo crosses your path?

After the cool change this afternoon, I went for a walk upstream along the Maribyrnong River from Solomon’s Ford. About 2km up from the ford, a kangaroo hopped across the path and into the long grass just in front of me. Sadly, it was so quick that I did not have time to get the …