personal

A beautiful sunny winter's day today so I took some pictures on a walk with my dog. Here is Silas. He's a great dane bull mastiff cross. Here he is looking dignified at Malabar Bay. Yes, that's walking distance from my house. And looking undignified at Malabar Bay. Can you spot the link to Crichton's State of Fear?
To celebrate 125 years of publication, The Bulletin is posting historical pictures of Australia from its archives. In the latest set, one from 1946 has my father in it. If I was a better writer I could probably tell you what he meant to me, but I can link to this appreciation written by John Burrows. Update: As soon as I post this, they replace the pictures with next week's set. Here is the picture:
OK, fine. 1. Total volume of music on my pc: About 12Gb---all of my CDs and LPs converted to Ogg. This is just a back up, since I just play the songs on my Iriver player. 2. Songs playing right now: Steel Monkey by Jethro Tull. 3. Last album purchased: Dial a Song by They Might be Giants 4. Seven songs I've listened to a lot lately, from several genres:Helpless by kd lang When Doves Cry by Prince Van Diemen's Land by U2 Sounds of Then by GANGgajang Imitation of Life by R.E.M. Irving Berlin by Ian Tyson Bob by Weird Al Yankovic 5. Pass this on to five victims: I don't think so.
Here are my kids at the beach on Christmas day. Best wishes to all my readers. Of course, to get to the beach we went through a long dark scary tunnel. Our only light source was the camera's flash. Also on the way we walked along the top of a high cliff. Justin was worried that Silas would fall off the cliff, so he put him on leash.
Our dog has developed a fear of traffic. Since we live on a busy street, this is a problem. It all started when he was crossing the street with Carmen and a car went through the red light without even slowing, passing less than a metre in front of him and smashing into the side of another car just a couple of metres away. After that he wouldn't cross the street at that intersection, which is sort of understandable, but his fear quickly grew so that he would freeze up walking on the footpath beside a busy road. Did I mention that we live on a busy road? Naturally I searched my…
From Kieran Healy I learn that Otis Dudley Duncan has died. It was Duncan who started the investigation into John Lott's mysterious survey. When Duncan first contacted me with his concerns, I found it almost impossible to conceive that someone would fabricate a survey rather then admitting to a careless error, but Duncan's insight into human nature has proven to be much better than mine. Although he preferred to stay out of the limelight, Duncan gave me the benefit of his wisdom on the Lott affair. If my writings on Lott's mysterious survey have been astute,…
Mrs M. Ingram Old Dubbo Dubbo N.S.W. Australia To Dear Mother from Bob with best wishes. I hope you will like my beautiful costume. It is not a very costly robe. Send in your order without delay we are nearly sold out. May 18, 1918 MIXED BATHING PHOTO TAKEN AT BRIGTON ENGLAND Left to Right: Pte Moore, Lance Corporal Cook, Pte Ingram, Private Ferguson in foreground watching the bathers. Excuse my grin, Fergy was tickling my leg as you can see by photo. I reckon I can pass the M.Ps. in that disguise. All the "Beetlecrushers" send their kindest regards to you all in…