This will hurt me...

Triffids blooming. Arthurs Circus, Battery Point. August 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... In our work-ethic-as-self-worth culture, we ignore the importance of laziness to a life well-lived… Public urinal users face fine for poor aim. It’s a bad time for psychology, a field rife with fraud, bogus maths and murky concepts. Happiness research, for example… Go on, get reading! "In 1998 men in the Health Care and Social Assistance category were being paid only 21 percent more than women. But that gap now stands at 48 percent - the worst figure for any industry in Australia ." Should we judge people of past eras for moral failings? On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.

Starfish. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. July 2013. A horrible Sunday Top Five today: Five Words That Fit Most Appropriately Into The Sentence "Martin Clunes' Extraordinarilly [...BLANK...] Head"! Abominable Unpleasant Beastly Abominable Grotesque

Spikey plant. East Derwent Highway, Lindisfarne. July 2013. Sunday Top Five today sees Henry and I compile our Top Five Tracks From The Late Great Dusty Springfield (This Sunday)! The Look Of Love You Don't Have to Say You Love Me I Only Want to Be with You Breakfast in Bed What Have I Done To Deserve This (with the Pet Shop Boys)

Prehistoric plant #1. Lake Osborne, Mount Field National Park. July 2013. Theme Thursday PASSIONS have got away from me! My apologies! Prehistoric plant #2. Lake Osborne, Mount Field National Park. July 2013.

Mushrooms, they're great all-rounders! Lake Dobson, Mount Field National Park. April 2013. The Whispering Muse , Sjón: A lovely blend of imagery and allusion that draws heavily on the seafaring myths of various nations. At the end of the book, narrator responds to the assertion that he has changed since returning from the voyage recounted in the book with another question: "What is the point of travelling if not to broaden your mind?" An odd little lyrical beauty, I really liked it very much. B+ . Modern British Posters: Art, Design and Communication , Paul Rennie: essentially a history of the modern British poster from 1915 to 1970. Even moreso, it serves as a decent history of British society, culture, politics and the economy in that period. C+ . St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves , Karen Russell: This collection of short stories is at times creative, imaginative and fun. However, all too frequently, the stories simply end, without resolution. Now ...

Baby Pandani. Lake Dobson, Mount Field National Park. April 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... National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2013 (Part 2) . Mr. Balls! Did you know that less time separates us from Tyrannosaurus rex then separated T. rex from Stegosaurus? Click to read more on Dinosaur Time... How typeface influences the way we read and think. Brilliant photo essay on World Refugee Day 2013. The World’s Population Mapped by Latitude and Longitude. Why We Should Rethink the Eight-Hour Workday. Can Women's Magazines Do Serious Journalism? Some people don't think so... Have you seen Russell Brand on MSNBC yet? 19 Mind-Blowing Details You Missed in Famous Works of Art .

Little Pandani. Pandani Grove, Lake Dobson, Mount Field National Park. April 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... The most curious thing about the DSM-5, the “psychiatric bible,” is that anyone would view the scientific-seeming manual with reverence… Puffins! The Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India Confessions of a Sociopath. Key point: "Parents are paying for more than a good education understood in academic terms when they shell out for independent school fees. But I suspect that many take it for granted that their money will also be buying superior teaching. They might be shocked to learn that on average the schools are turning out what they took in: children who were already well placed educationally but have not become more so....

Ocellate seastar. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. May 2013. Wordless Wednesday. Ocellate seastars making love. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. May 2013.

Theme Thursday and something MAGICAL is in the air. The last time that he saw Billy, he was being hit about the head and shoulders with a block of firewood. To be fair to the woman that was hitting him, Billy was not a very nice person. Billy had a problem with his temper. He did not take kindly to rejection. This was a special challenge, because with Billy’s temperament (among other things) he regularly face people rejecting him. Billy also had a problem with his vocabulary, his personal hygiene, his emotional intelligence, time management skills and his general sense of self. While these things are not unrelated to Billy’s assault; they offer an interesting insight into the nature of alienation in post-industrial societies, the failures of our modern welfare (post-welfare) state, the nihilism inherent in a capitalist, consumption-oriented world whereby success is measured by the wheels on your car, the size of your television set and the specific shade of orange on your girl...

Ezra explains the mechanics of a recently-departed Shaw's Cowfish ( Arcana aurita ).

Alive or dead? Little Conningham Beach, Conningham. January 2013. C'mon dudes, I'm on holidays !

Bees returning home. The Domain, Hobart. December 2012. Sunday Top Five and today I'm listing Five Sure Fire Ways That Constantly Mess Up People's Ways Of Thinking Or Planning! Only taking responsibility for positive outcomes. Rebellion for the sake of proving personal freedom. Confirmation bias, or, ignoring information that does not support a belief. Passing a broad judgement from an isolated incident. Sunk cost fallacy, or, trying to diminish losses by continuing to pursue previous failures.

Tall tree. Royal Hobart Botanical Gardens. November 2012. We , Yevgeny Zamyatin: one of the earliest examples of the dystopian genre. We imagines a totalitarian and conformative modern industrial society where free will is the cause of unhappiness, and that citizens' lives should be controlled with mathematical precision based on the system of industrial efficiency. A tricky read, but effective. B- . The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers , Delia Falconer: Set a quarter century after the event, this novel imagines Captain Frederick Benteen remembering the destruction of Custer’s Seventh Cavalry at Little Bighorn. A meditative book, this is an exquisite eulogy for the ordinary soldier, alive and dead. Brilliant. A+ . Utz , Bruce Chatwin: A satirical portrait of life in Communist Czechoslovakia rooted in the idea that human nature is the same no matter what political winds are blowing. I liked it a lot. B+ . Ellen Foster , Kaye Gibbons: Thoughtful, funny, tender and - most important...

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 tim...

This seaweed appears to be waving hello. Bellerive Beach, December 2010. Why? Why not. Why not indeed! Because. Because why? Just because. Just because I said so. Why? Because! Why not? Because. Because why? Why because? ? ? ? ! ! !