My grandmother had a wonderful tree in her garden – a pohutukawa. The pohutukawa tree, native to the north of New Zealand, is the tree I would design, if I was given the job. It grows along the edges of the sands of most beaches in its range. It branchesContinue Reading
This time from Jennifer (ponderosa). Think of the plants (trees, flowers, etc) which grow within 50 yards of your home. Which is your favorite? Port Jackson Fig, Ficus rubiginos. This is a big tree (as tall as our three story house) that grows in our very tiny backyard (big enoughContinue Reading
A friend sent me a link to the productivity commission’s latest survey on workforce participation rates. It is a look at different age groups, and their degree of participation in the workforce. A few interesting trends: the participation rate of men at nearly all ages has dropped fairly uniformly over theContinue Reading
From Charlotte via (un)relaxed dad: . What do you for the birds and the bees? According to the report in Newsweek, we need to plant a pollinator garden to counteract the effect pollution, pesticides and habitat destruction are having on birds, bees and insects. Bees, for instance, like yellow, blue andContinue Reading
I cycled to work today, which is not that much of an achievement, given its 4.5 km, but I still feel proud. A few observations: there are heaps more people cycling to work these days – I reckon twice as many as when I last cycled to work more thanContinue Reading
Today’s book review is The complete Polysyllabic Spree – the Diary of an Occasionally Exasperated But Ever Hopeful Reader, by Nick Hornby (interestingly only available on Amazon UK, not US). This is a collection of Nick Hornby’s monthly essays on the books he’s read that month, from Believer magazine (aContinue Reading
I went to a fascinating talk on insurance risk from a former Florida insurance actuary recently. He was talking about the public policy issues involved in insuring people against natural catastrophes. Basically, insurance fulfils three main functions in the economy: transferring risk from the risk averse providing capital in theContinue Reading
There have been a couple of articles (probably because it is the silly season) recently about the unaffordability of pre-schools in NSW, compared with other Australian states. The vast majority of pre-schools in NSW cost about $30 a day, with most children going for the year before school, for twoContinue Reading
Today I’m reviewing one of the Quarterly Essays – The History Question; Who owns the past? by Inga Clendinnen. Quarterly Essays are 20,000 words published quarterly, with responses generally in the next issue. I’ve previously reviewed Clendinnen’s Dancing with Strangers, which is a detailed deconstruction and pieceing together of the historyContinue Reading
One of our favourite weekend excursions is to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and take the ferry home. It’s been a while, so we did it again today, even though rain was threatening. So picture us – three adults, with three small boys. They’d been cooped up a bit inContinue Reading