This will hurt me...

Shag on a buoy. Constitution Dock, Hobart. July 2013. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning... Schools of economic thought explained as bumper stickers. The World Inside a Camera. Candidate Obama debates President Obama. A Point of View: Is democracy overrated? How does a nation heal itself?

A shag on a rock. Flowerpot Point, Blackman's Bay. June 2013. The Gift Of Stones , Jim Crace: A tale set as a small village of tool makers in the Stone Age is pushed aside by the emergent Bronze Age. Crace has created an evocative tale of the impact of change on ordinary people through the eyes of a couple of beautifully constructed characters. Lovely stuff. B+ .

Crane in the mud. Geilston Bay Creek, Geilston Bay. May 2013. A linktastic Sunday Top Five today, with my Top Five Songs Recently Reconsidered By My Good Self As Actually Much Better Than I Ever Gave Them Credit For At The Time! Eclectic? Of course! Ratcat, That Ain't Bad The Housemartins, Caravan of Love The Fixx, One Thing Leads To Another Cheap Trick, Surrender Divinyls, Boys In Town

Cormorant drying its wings. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. May 2013. Poems drawn from notes on a fridge? Whatever next! This is Just to Say , William Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold

Proud Gull. Boat Harbour. April 2013. It is another Theme Thursday and today sees a burst of CREATIVITY and a shot little piece that came to me on the walk to work. I call it Perception . Quiet Jim was the first of the old gang to die. It came as a bit of a shock to get the invite to his funeral on Facebook. There were five in our gang: me; Quiet Jim (he was the quiet one); Loud Jim (he was the loud one); Big Jim (he was the fat one); and Little Jim (he wasn't very little, but he was much smaller than Big Jim). They just called me ‘Mike’. It was a surprise to all of us that Quiet Jim was the first to go. He was so, well, quiet . Loud Jim drank too much, got into fights and generally wasn't a very nice person.Big Jim’s diet was terrible, he smoked like a chimney and the mere thought of exercise could send him into apoplexy. Little Jim (who really wasn't little at all) had a taste for bizarre sexual practices. I’m pretty laid back, but as an avid trainspotter am al...

Australian Hobby Falcon, Shag Bay. April 2013. The Australian Hobby [ Falco longipennis ] resembles the Peregrine Falcon, however it is much smaller and has darker plumage. It's a nippy little bugger, and can swiftly weave through the bush in chase of other birds. I've not seen too many around these parts, but this one happily sat in the tree for Ez and I to have a good gander at it. Poetry , Marianne Moore I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle. Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it after all, a place for the genuine. Hands that can grasp, eyes that can dilate, hair that can rise if it must, these things are important not because a high-sounding interpretation can be put upon them but because they are useful. When they become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the same thing may be said for all of us, that we do...

Australian Hobby Falcon, or Falco longipennis . Shag Bay, Geilston Bay. April 2013. My apologies. Maybe next week...

Black-fronted Dotterel, or Elseyornis melanops. Marion Bay, Tasmania. March 2013. First Love, Last Rites , Ian McEwan: Cripes, these are some DARK short stories. The blackest of the are the standouts for me, but I suspect that many will have a problem completing. B- . Two Pints , Roddy Doyle: Two old Irish blokes chatting in a bar. D+ . What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank , Nathan Englander: An uneven collection of short stories that (largely) explores modern Jewish identity. Some of the stories completely failed for me, but when he hits - as he does in the powerful "Free Fruit for Young Widows" - Englander manages to widen the historical and ethical perspective and set the full, intractably complex burden of the Middle East conflict on the reader's shoulders. B- .

Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicea). Boat Harbour, Tasmania's North West Coast. March 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Hmmmmm. Bellerive Bluff, Bellerive. March 2013. Theme Thursday already and there is a nasty little FRAGRANCE about. A stench. A stink. An odour of disrepute. No putrefaction, but something ominous. A bouquet of disagreeableness. A whiff of repugnance and an aura of unpleasantness. And I'm not talking about the fish.

Gull. Bellerive Beach, Bellerive. February 2013. Sula , Toni Morrison: Part-critique of heterosexual institutions, part-exploration of friendship amid a backdrop of family, love, race, and the human condition. Very strange. B- . A Swell Looking Babe , Jim Thompson: Another one of Thompson's odd blend of hard-boiled crime noires and Freudian psychodrama (this one from 1954). The Oedipal subtext is not exactly subtle and the apparent central action of a vicious robbery really is a subsidiary plot to the real drama taking place inside our central character's head. I enjoyed it. B .

When emus attack! East Coast Natureworld, Bicheno. January 2013. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning... Danger, you’re at serious risk of … no, sorry, it’s all relative... The effect of the supermarket duopoly in Australia. The Art of Kissing: A 1936 Guide for Lovers. The Gruffalo defends libraries from Horrible Histories' attack. The U.S. government is developing new computer weapons and driving a black market in “zero-day” bugs. The result could be a more dangerous Web for everyone. Goethe's account of the philosophy and artistic experience of colour, bridging the intuitive and the visceral in a way that, more than two hundred years later, is still of interest . Blame Barney: Students' perception of T. rex is outdated . ...

Kookaburra. Knocklofty Reserve, Mount Stuart. January 2012. Tasmania has 19 National Parks . I was happy to revisit two this past week, which is a beautiful segue into today's Sunday Top Five : The Fourteen National Parks That I Have Visited [Thus Far] In Tasmania ! Freycinet National Park : Henry and Ezra managed the Wineglass Bay walk, swim included. Only one of them managed to make it up the mountain on the way back without being carried.... Douglas-Apsley National Park : The highlight here? One of us - who shall remain nameless - whipping the gear off and skinny dipping in the waterhole... Hartz Mountains National Park Ben Lomond National Park Cradle Mt - Lake St Clair National Park Rocky Cape National Park Narawntapu National Park Savage River National Park Mole Creek Karst National Park Walls of Jerusalem National Park The Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park Mt Field National Park Tasman National Park South Bruny National Park That leav...

Pigeons of Hobart (public art), Campbell Street, Hobart. May 2012. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning... The most creative stacking of firewood that you'll see all week! Really interesting stuff about humans, our brains and evolutionary principles . I do like the reminder about the sheep being a more efficient ‘power animal’ than Usain Bolt… The BBC tracks the slow spread of Vegemite ... Ein deutscher Mann tut seinen Hintern . Two millennia of Western philosophy in comic form.

Shag on a rock drowned tree. Coal River, Richmond. July 2012. A special treat for you today. Welcome to the Domingo Los Cinco Primeros! For this Dimanche , I've imported an internazionale flavour, yes a Rätsel ! Yes, it is Quinque Clues Elaborare Responsum! Are you up for it? Můžete vyřešit ? Czy na pewno ? Okay then... Hodiaŭ mi ne estas kie mi kutime povas trovi . Nire kokapena egin behar duzu . Je suis 1.058 kilomètres au nord de la maison . Wenn ich hier lebte, würde ich wahrscheinlich spielen Cricket für Australien . La gente qui pensa che sia l'unico posto da visitare, ma potrebbe anche non fare la top ten . Have you figured it out yet? Pone respondere elit.

We spend a bit of time on the beach. Howrah Beach, August 2012. Sunday Stealing: The 88 Meme, Part Two 23. Why do you think so many people cheat? Because so many people are lazy and stupid. 24. Tell me what's on your mind? Having a break! 25. What are you looking forward to in the next three months? Some good weather, lovely walks, a bit of a swim and plenty of decent photographs. 26. Have you ever worn the opposite sex's clothing? Not deliberately. 25. When did you last talk to your BFF? This morning before work. 28. When is your next road trip? Friday! 29. Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell anything to? That would be my wife. 30. How's your heart? It seems fine. 31. Have you ever felt like you weren't important? I’m not important! 32. Do you think somebody's secretly in love with you? I certainly hope so. 33. What are you planning on doing after this? Work. 34. Last time you yelled at someone? I may have yel...

Rosellas. Brighton. June 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

Evil magpie. Our front yard. East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay. December 2011. Sunday Top Five again and today I venture somewhat into a self help territory: The Top Five Things That My Life Is Far Too Short For Me To Tolerate! People who bring me down . There are an awful lot of people in the world, so I don’t really understand people who waste their time with poisonous people. Relationships should be enjoyable, not painful. Find people who you get on with, who entertain you, not drag you down. A career that I hate . There are limits to this, as you have to keep paying the bills. Nevertheless, if the opportunity arises, I don’t see the point on settling on a job I’m not keen on. Keep looking, that’s what I’m doing! Unnecessary miscommunication . I can’t apologise for this one. I say what I mean and mean what you say. If we’re conversing, please speak clearly and frankly. Ask questions. Clarify things until you understand them. Life is too short for games. Unhealthy habits...

Rosella in stand-off. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. April 2012. Theme Thursday and I have been driven just a little bit WILD by the new interface that Blogger has enforced on us all. I know that I shouldn't complain about what is ultimately a free service, and with this being post number three-thousand, three-hundred and seventy-five, I'm hardly going to quit now. That said, I am intrigued as to how others feel about it. Some come on Theme Thursday-ers, what do you reckon? Are you WILD about it? Or does it just drive you WILD?

Egretta novaehollandiae or, the White-faced Heron. The Battery Point foreshore, March 2012. Sunday Top Five again and this week I am going to get all lexicographic on yo' selves. Therefore, I present to you My Top Five Words From The Dolgopolsky List [The Dolgopolsky List Of Course Being The Fifteen Lexical Items That Have The Most Semantic Stability As Compiled By Aharon Dolgopolsky in 1964] ! tongue name tooth teardrop water