You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer 'yes' without having asked any clear question.

Bigmouth strikes again. Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, Brighton. May 2012.

Theme Thursday already?

Every now and again I think that it becomes clear that it is time for A NEW BEGINNING.

‘A NEW BEGINNING?’ you ask. ‘A NEW BEGINNING!’ I say.

For me, this A NEW BEGINNING is at the same time breathtakingly simple yet utterly revolutionary.

As of yesterday I have reconfigured my workstation to one in which standing has become the default option. That is, my computer set up has the monitor at standing eye level and the keyboard at around elbow height. I’ve got the desk configured in such a way that I have the opportunity to sit down if so desired. The fact that I am also working on a laptop makes it relatively easy to do computer work seated too.

My typical workday starts at 8 am, after a walk to the bus stop, a bus into the city and then a twenty-minute walk into the office. I normally try to leave by 4:15 pm, but occasionally that time is pushed out. A fair whack of that time sees me bolted to a computer or telephone, with intermittent meetings out and about (I’m usually able to walk to most of these). Most of the meetings that I attend (some interminably long) see me sitting down.

The point is: having a standing desk won't mean standing for 8 hours a day straight.

So why A NEW BEGINNING?

I have a number of reasons. When I am sitting at my desk, even with a fancy-pants ergonomic chair, I have a tendency to slump, with my back curved and shoulders forward, which closes my chest and makes my breathing more shallow. When standing my shoulders go back, which straightens the spine and opens up my chest. The hope is that it will help with my posture.

Secondly, we burn fewer calories when we’re sitting. In fact, extended sitting sessions change our body’s metabolism.

This, and a host of other studies seem to confirm an increasing evidence base to suggest that there’s a “physiology of inactivity”.

Thus, a more sedentary set up seems to drive the fact that sitting workers crash reasonably hard around mid-afternoon. For me, 2:30 pm sees me most days nearly drifting off to sleep. When I’m standing, I find that I am more alert and attentive all through the day (even if you’re more tired by day’s end).

The key message is not that ‘standing all day’ should be the norm or that ‘sitting is the enemy’. It is more about stressing that sitting all day is not good for you and that creating work environments where standing is the default option (rather than sitting).

I’m very early on in the journey, but am already finding it working.

It really does feel like A NEW BEGINNING.

Hold me now, oh hold me now, until this hour has gone around. And I'm gone on the rising tide, to face Van Dieman's Land

Theme Thursday again, and this one is rather easy. I am Tasmanian, you see, and aside from being all around general geniuses - as I have amply described previously - we are also very familiar with the concept of WATER. Tasmania is the ONLY island state of an ISLAND continent. That means, we're surrounded by WATER. That should help explain why I take so many photographs of water . Tasmania was for a long time the place where the British (an island race terrified of water) sent their poor people most vile and horrid criminals. The sort of folk who would face the stark choice of a death sentence , or transportation to the other end of the world. Their catalogue of crimes is horrifying : stealing bread assault stealing gentlemen's handkerchiefs drunken assault being poor affray ladies being overly friendly with gentlemen for money hitting people having a drink and a laugh public drunkenness being Irish Fenian terrorist activities being Catholic religious subversion. ...

But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.

Can you believe that it is time for Theme Thursday already? Today we are not talking chocolate , toddlers , mess or ignominy . No, today we're dealing with ANIMAL . Now I could have posted a picture of a possum, numbat, wombat, wallaby or any other furry killing machine that roams our fair isle, but I figure that I'd use a far more deadly creature as an example of an animal . Some people - I know them as fools - have chosen to embrace that highfalutin idea that human beans are for some ungodly reason superior to animals. Of course, what these imbeciles seem to forget is that were are simple animals ourselves ! Anyone with a baby, toddler, teenage boy or Queenslander in their household could tell you this. Look at Henry [above]. One chocolate frog in the back of the car on a sunny day and all of a sudden it's Elagabalus meets Bacchus for a quick shandy in the Serengeti and we're down on all fours carrying on like a cat in heat. Fair dinkum, anyone who chooses to ...

Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.

This is the moon. Have I mentioned how much I adore the zoom on my camera? It's Theme Thursday you see, and after last week's limp effort, I have been thinking about how I might redeem myself. Then I clicked on the topic and discover that it was BUTTON. We've been hearing a lot about the moon in the past couple of weeks. Apparently some fellas went up there and played golf and what-not forty-odd years ago. The desire to get to the moon, however, was not simply about enhancing opportunities for Meg and Mog titles and skirting local planning by-laws in the construction of new and innovative golf courses. No, all of your Sputniks , "One small steps" and freeze dried ice cream was about one thing , and one thing only : MAD Now, I don't mean mad in terms of "bloke breaks record for number of scorpions he can get up his bum", no I mean MAD as in Mutual assured destruction . When I was a young man you see, there was a lot of talk about the type of m...

This will hurt me...

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