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Society

The debate we have to have … more of

Last night I had the opportunity to witness a real debate. The occasion was an IQ2 debate at Melbourne Town Hall. Six experts – three on each side – took turns to argue for and against the proposition that Australia should embrace nuclear power. The highlight of the evening was that, according to before and [...]

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It’s True: The World is Simpler than We Think

Always nagging in the back of my mind is the notion that the world is a lot more simple than we tend to make it. (It is because of this that, over the years, I’ve been an advocate for simplicity.) To see how complicated we imagine life to be, take a look at the Self-Help and [...]

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Google Earth or Real Earth? I’m Getting Confused

One of my very favourite cartoons is Michael Leunig’s ‘TV sunrise’. The picture of a father and son watching the sunset on television while the real thing happens just outside the window seems to capture the essence of modern life. The only problem with the cartoon is that it is a bit dated. I mean, [...]

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Chill Out, Slow Down and Live Longer: a Hope for the New Decade

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdxdj/23219947/sizes/t/

While waiting to cross a road yesterday, I watched a cyclist do a perfectly legal and correct right-hand turn. The bike stayed to the outside of the lane but even there he caused the car behind him to pause for a moment before it could turn. The car then took its turn, the driver planting [...]

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Why Technology will Never Replace the Knowledge of Elders

It was a crafty weekend at our house. I was house-painting – a job that is going to keep me going for many months. Our youngest daughter was making soap for Christmas presents. And my wife and eldest daughter were working together as said daughter had her first introduction to serious needlework. It got me [...]

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Climate Change Straight Talk from Unlikely Sources

15000 delegates are currently sitting in Copenhagen and thrashing out some sort of agreement on how humanity might be saved from the effects of climate change. That’s a mighty big committee. Let’s hope all the hot air that will be exhaled over the next fortnight is being captured and put to good use.
I must say [...]

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Our Love Affair with Digital: Are we Being Led Astray?

The stark realisation of just how wedded to digital technology we have become gave me a strong sense of unease recently. Am I alone in feeling a growing sense of communal vulnerability in this relationship?

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An Open Letter to My Kids before Christmas. Dear Girls…

You know that uncomfortable sagging feeling you get when you leave for school camp knowing you’ve left something behind – you just don’t know what? It’s horrible the way the hunch sits in your gut like too much cake until, as you open your bag at the other end, the realisation hits: it was the [...]

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Portrait of the Artist as a New Media Mogul

While working in a ‘real’ job and then later for myself, I had no idea how little society valued the arts. Now that I’m a writer, I’m learning fast – and the image I see is not very attractive.

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Hurry Up and … Slow Down

Over forty years is a long time to work on a single task. Yet that has been the lot of the four editors of the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. The massive 3,952 page double volume will be released this month, the culmination of the editors’ entire careers. In our world of fast, [...]

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