Much as I prefer to believe that the coronavirus pandemic is not cause for concern, things are getting weirder and weirder. Whilst we are not now in lockdown per se, we are not meant to leave our homes except to go to work/study, the doctor, the supermarket, or exercise. Work has made this a bit …
Author Archives: Ernest Zanatta
First World Problems
It’s a bit amusing to read that people are not happy about bring quarantined in five star hotels. Free of charge. It might be a lot boring, but it’s better than where I usually stay when travelling. I do hope they have plenty of books to read – I always carry a stash of books …
On The Beach?
It was through Nevil Shute borrowing the name for his 1950s post-apocalyptic novel On The Beach (which was almost immediately filmed with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire) from a passage in the poem The Hollow Men that I first discovered T.S. Eliot when I was 15: In this last of meeting places We …
The $7500 question….
On the weekend, I did some sums. I added up all of the Federal Government’s current and promised commitments to keep the economy going and to relieve the suffering of the un and under employed during the current crisis, and then divided it by the population of Australia. It comes to about $7500 which is …
Spock and Kirk – why Economic Man is not rational
I have always considered myself, ever since I replaced my innate conservatism with more well reasoned libertarian views, a supporter of economic rationalism. I still do, for the most part, as it is both the most morally appropriate and effective model for economic thinking. But, as I get older, I see it simply as a …
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Looking to ‘Leeward’ – a eulogy for share traders
At one point today, the losses which I avoided by bailing out of the share market 20 days ago were up to $90,000. Right now, they only stand at $85,000. In other words, the one decision to get out of the share market has saved me more losses than I have made from a series …
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Qantas Frequent Flyer spams during the Corona-crisis
I am not exactly enamoured of Frequent Flyer programs. The collapse of Ansett Airlines in mid 2001 cost me almost 60,000 points, which had been earned mostly through spending on my linked credit card. Ever since then, I have made sure to cash out my credit card reward points regularly, originally as gift cards, but …
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In which I am visited by an Owl
Whilst it flew off before I could take a photo of it, I saw an owl in my gum tree in my backyard last night. Cool. I have never seen an owl in the wild before – if you can call my backyard the wild. Aside from my surprise owl visitor, I get bats and …
Despatches from the trenches in the Toilet Paper Apocalypse
Whilst I am well stocked for toilet paper, and have been for many years, I am troubled by the predicament that may be faced by some of my family and friends and colleagues, so I have been sharing from my stash in the past week. I decided that, rather than hope that supermarkets replenish their …
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Speaking of Kansas….
It’s now about 11 days since I visited the supermarket and saw that it was almost completely out of toilet paper rolls. Last night, there was no meat, and no bread. And there is very little pasta or pasta sauce left. I think it is safe to say, as Dorothy did to Toto, that we …
Lost For Words! 