This will hurt me...

Lazy Australian fur seals #1. The Friars, south of Bruny Island, Tasmania. September 2013. Wordless Wednesday. Lazy Australian fur seals #2. The Friars, south of Bruny Island, Tasmania. September 2013. Lazy Australian fur seals #3. The Friars, south of Bruny Island, Tasmania. September 2013. Lazy Australian fur seals #4. The Friars, south of Bruny Island, Tasmania. September 2013. Lazy Australian fur seals #5. The Friars, south of Bruny Island, Tasmania. September 2013.

Gull. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. 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... Lessons on feminism. New book finds U.S. conduct during the Vietnam War to be much worse than previously understood, where My Lai was “an operation, not an aberration.” The Strange Sexual Quirk of Filipino Seafarers. 25 Hilariously Inaccurate Knock-Off Toys. Political power, said Mao, “grows out of the barrel of a gun.” His fondness for bloodshed should not blind us to the accuracy of his observation… Why Violence Works. Vote Compass is an educational tool developed by a non-profit group of political scientists and hosted by the ABC. Answer a short series of questions to discover how you fit in the Australian political landscape. Election FactCheck is...

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?

Under water, looking out towards the sky. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. May 2013. The Sea: Day by Day , Philip Plisson: Magnificent images, could have possibly used more exposition. B- . The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read , Susan Hill: Subdued stories that explore loneliness and loss. Bleak. C+ . Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color , Leatrice Eiseman: Some lovely colours and images, somewhat marred by shallow complementary text. C .

Not snorkelling weather. Clifton Beach. May 2013. Sunday Top Five ? That's right, here are Five Words That We Really Need To Start Using In English! Pelinti ( Buli ): You know when you're in a rush to eat a hot pie and you have to open your mouth and tilt your head to avoid burning yourself? Ghanaians have a word for that. Myötähäpeä ( Finnish ): the nicer relative of Schadenfreude . Think, "vicarious embarrassment.” Above us the waves. Clifton Beach. May 2013. Layogenic ( Tagalog ): You know how sometimes you can see something (or someone) from far away and it/ they look pretty good, but when you get a close look it's not quite the case? That's layogenic . Cavoli Riscaldati ( Italian ): a very bad move: trying to revive an unworkable relationship. It literally translates to "reheated cabbage." Litost ( Czech ): I'll defer to Milan Kundera on this one: “a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.” Th...

Doesn't he look delighted with this urchin?

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

The last races of the season. Boats on the Derwent Estuary, as seen from the rocks at the bottom of Bellerive Bluff. February 2013. I shall plead for your forgiveness on today's post. The dual forces of illness, work deadlines and the unwavering challenge of two loud children have made it a little too hard of late...

Dolphin. Bicheno Beach, Bicheno. Tasmania's East Coast. January 2013. Jen survived her return to work this week. I survived the newly structured hours. Henry and Ezra survived the second week of school. Good stuff. I know why the caged bird sings , Maya Angelou A free bird leaps on the back Of the wind and floats downstream Till the current ends and dips his wing In the orange suns rays And dares to claim the sky. But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage Can seldom see through his bars of rage His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill Of things unknown but longed for still And his tune is heard on the distant hill for The caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breeze And the trade winds soft through The sighing trees And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright Lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams His sha...

The view of Goat bluff from down low on Calverts Beach. Calverts Beach, South Arm Peninsula. January 2012. A fine start to the year with three books already done and dusted. First up The Eye , which is Vladimir Nabokov’s shortest novel. Set amongst the Russian émigré comunity in 1920s Berlin, it focuses on the enigmatic Russian Smurov. The action commences after the attempted (perhaps successful) suicide of the narrator. After this (potentially imaginary) death, his "eye" observes a group of Russian émigrés as he tries to ascertain their opinions of the mysterious character Smurov. Largely about ‘identity’ – our own perceptions of self and the social construction of our identity both for and by others – Smurov exists as a hero, fraud, nobleman, crook, "sexual adventurer" and spy in the eyes of himself and others. The central narrator gathers these observations in the attempt to construct a coherent portrait of Smurov. While the ‘twist’ alluded to in the author’s p...

Watch out on those cliffs. Clifton Beach. June 2011. Sometimes I would like noting more than to sit out on these cliffs (out of the wind), and just watch the sea. For hours and hours and hours and hours. I don't think that there is anything dishonourable in running away from the world to live the life at sea for a time.