Today’s book review is Against the Gods – the Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L Bernstein. I bought this a while ago, when it was first published, and for some reason didn’t finish at the time. I couldn’t believe it when I read it again recently, as (unusually forContinue Reading
I learned the piano all the way through school. I wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed it, but the one thing I always regretted about it being the piano was that it wasn’t an ensemble instrument. So ever since I was in my teens I’ve had this 19th century fantasy aboutContinue Reading
When we were in Spain a few years ago, we started to realise what a risk-averse society Australia had become. It became a bit of a standing joke on the trip – “that would never be allowed in the Switzerland of the South”. I forget, not having been overseas forContinue Reading
Philip Gomes has a post in Lavartus Prodeo a couple of days ago about Michael Duffy’s dummy spit about Sydney cyclists. Read his post, and the comments – a depressingly familiar tale of bike riders being blamed for riding in the only ways that are left to them by theContinue Reading
Both Susoz and Elsewhere commented on my previous part-time post that they didn’t understand my comment about administrative burden – that having someone working less than full time did create an administrative burden for the management/company. Their surprise did make me wonder whether I’m too much on the side ofContinue Reading
Today’s book review is Everything Bad is Good for You: How today’s popular culture is making us smarter, by Steven Johnson. I actually bought this book for E, as he is a computer games devotee from way back, and has expounded on their educational aspects before. In the end, heContinue Reading
Air New Zealand and Qantas have apparently banned men from sitting next to unaccompanied children on planes. The airlines say that “their rules reflect the concerns of parents, as well as child safety issues”. How likely is it that an unaccompanied child is going to be abused on a flight?Continue Reading
I had lunch with two (male) clients today. One (P) has worked four days a week for some time; the other (D) has just asked his manager whether he can also. Both pretty much for family reasons – they want to spend more time with their kids. In both cases,Continue Reading
The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces has published a new book called “Women in an Insecure World“. I haven’t read the book, just the summary, but it has a horrifying catalogue of all the different ways in which women can be damaged in today’s world.Continue Reading
Once again, the SMH has an article about the enormous success of Asian immigrants in NSW’s schools. This time, it’s a much better researched article, which goes to the trouble of looking at the actual background of students, rather than counting the ones with Asian names (I blogged about thisContinue Reading