Challenge Literature Fellowship - AfricaI am reading a fascinating book at the moment about someone whose job it is to “trauma clean” – she is the cleaner who goes in after a murder, suicide or bad tenant; the person whom the council gets to clean up for hoarders and wash down former methadone labs.
What an interesting, disgusting, daunting and slightly terrifying job!Continue reading
Can you imagine a world in which there was no theft? I find it is almost impossible to do. Imagine not needing locks on doors, or cars? No security guards in stores, no pick pocketing or phone scams. We wouldn’t need safety deposit boxes or passwords because no one would steal online either.
If everything was paid for, stores wouldn’t have to pad their prices and the cost of everything would be lower. Insurance companies would lose a lot of work. If no one stole from the tax man, the government would have lots more money to make improvements on infrastructure and amenities.
Continue reading
I recently learnt about the life of American chemical engineer Thomas Midgley, a mild-mannered inventor, who only lived 55 years and whom I had never heard of before, but whose impact was one of world-wide destruction and death. He has been dubbed the most destructive single organism on Earth!¹
Midgley was instrumental in the invention both of leaded gasoline and CFCs, two of the worst inventions ever, which continue to have untold human and environmental impacts.Continue reading
Recently I saw online the heartwarming story of a Walmart employee in the States who stepped in and gave a woman with cerebral palsy a manicure, after the nail salon refused her business.
This sort of story brings a smile to the face and restores our belief in the kindness and goodness of humanity.
However, like those stories about people making wheels for disabled dogs or rescuing stranded whales, it is not a very Darwinian story though – it is not about survival of the fittest, or weeding out the weak.Continue reading
National Sorry Day is an annual event that has been held in Australia on 26 May, since 1998, to remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the country’s Aboriginal population. I imagine many Australians might feel the whole idea is just a hollow attempt by “the white fella” to soothe his conscience about the past, and that an apology is just empty words.Continue reading
In the cult movie “The Usual Suspects” Kevin Spacey’s character Verbal Kint famously says “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”.
The Devil seems to be doing a good job, in a 2009 poll conducted by Nielsen, 68% of Australians said they believe in God, while only 37% say they believe in the Devil.
Belief in the Devil has been made ridiculous by portrayals of him as a cloven-hoofed, pointy-tailed, red, goat-like creature, carrying a pitchfork.
What does the Bible actually say about the Devil and does one have to believe in him to be a Christian?Continue reading
Published 2016
A Chinese firm has developed a new type of tattoo ink that fades away after a year, or can be taken off sooner with a removal solution, according to a recent article on news.com.au. What a great idea!
Continue readingWritten March 2019
In season three of Netflix’s “The Blacklist” FBI agent Elizabeth Keen remembers something horrific she did in her past and finally understands why the mysterious Raymond Reddington (Red) was trying to keep it from her.
“I was trying to be your sin-eater,” he tells her.
Continue readingIn a world where almost every week I think things cannot get more bizarre, The Satanic Temple of Idaho has posted on Facebook at the end of a longer message “Just know that Satan loves you for you!”Continue reading
Written in 2016
In the world of artificial intelligence, things that our grandparents would have found hard to even imagine have already become a reality and the pace of progress in the field “is close to exponential”, according to billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, entrepreneur Elon Musk.Continue reading