Tasmanian Wallaby

Packaged Dog

Seen at Salamanca Market in Hobart last week.

Wombatting

This one lives in the warmth underneath the lodge at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, and emerges only to munch on grass and to poo on things.

Quolltastic

This sleepy quoll looks cute, but is a killer. I wanted to give him a new stick to play with, so I gently put it into his cage. In a flash he latched onto it with his claws and dragged it towards him, also dragging my hand in before I realised. Then he lashed out at my hand. This happened so fast I didn't know what was going on. Luckily I wasn't damaged.

Current Favourite TV Shows

For personal reference only, here are my current favourite TV proggies. These shows are all on this week.

1. Portlandia
2. Mad Men
3. Green Wing
4. WAFL Football
5. Pete v Life
6. The Tudors
7. Supernatural
8. 24 Hours in Emergency
9. 30 Rock
10. Arrested Development

Another Clue

I'm Back !

Returning from a frigid winter wonderland where the maximum temperature struggled to reach zero some days.

Guess where I was.

Saturday Morning at the Beach

Balancing Peoples

Chocolate Ute

This chocolate-flavoured ute looks yummy enough to lick.

Beach Boganism

Another scene from Cottesloe. Note the woman at centre-left sorting out her bottom.

Today's news headlines mentioned the theft of one of the Cottesloe sculptures. I can only hope it was this one.

Smartphones on the Cheap

Being a cheapskate and an iPhone user is tricky, but I will mention one trick I'm fond of. As free wifi becomes ubiquitous, the best option to ensure you're using its signal rather than the expensive 3G network is to turn your phone to Airplane mode (thus turning off both 3G and wifi), and then turning on wifi. Now you can safely use data to your heart's content with no risk of bankruptcy.

Blinded by the Equinox

As the autumnal equinox approaches, the alignment of the sun is reaching its orientation of greatest significance and mystical effect. Not living inside Stonehenge or within the Tomb of Osiris, the local equivalent is the east-west orientation of many Perth streets. And because the sun sets due West at equinox, the blinding experience of driving towards the beach on a sunny afternoon consists of a glowing orb burning directly into your retina and leaving its imprint even minutes later. But even more dazzling is the drive east away from the setting sun, with both wing mirrors and the rear-view mirror all focusing the sunlight into your eyes. I resort to turning all my mirrors around so that my vision is preserved, although I have no knowledge of the position of any cars around me.

Only another fortnight to go and the sun will be safely further north as we head into the bitter winter months.

22 November 1963

My pile of unread novels reaching critically low levels, I ordered Stephen King's latest 11/22/63 from Book Depository today. It's an alternate version of the JFK assassination, and it got me thinking more about that fateful day. And then a coincidence hit me - the novel I started today was Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and he died on that very same day 49 years ago. (Incidentally, his wife shot him up with LSD before the went, so he didn't suffer too badly.)

Curious, I delved further and found that C.S.Lewis, author and scholar, also died that day.

Has there ever been another single day when we've lost so many distinguished people?

ps. Another significant event happened at the same time: the first episode of Dr Who was broadcast the following day.

Yes

Or No.

Shiny Sculpted Heads

Spotted at Cottesloe beach this morning.

Loop of Inefficiency

Discussing organisational dynamics yesterday, a new concept came up, the Loop of Inefficiency.

In sufficiently complex institutions there will inevitably be parts which are less efficient than others. Work flow  involving them is bogged down in a circle of confusion, or even worse a Bermuda Triangle from which nothing escapes.

The loop of inefficiency can most effectively be destroyed from within. From the outside, it's resilient to attack, but a mole who can penetrate its defences can undermine it and break it. The reason for its strength is that those within it are in a reality distortion field and can't see out of it. Their work is but one link in a chain and even if they see a more efficient way to proceed, they're stuck in the loop and cannot innovate because the next link in the chain relies on them continuing in the old inefficient manner.

Good luck if you're stuck in such a loop.

Running Out of Shots

Having spent the last 18 months wandering around the desolate back alleys of Perth in search of yet another stunning photographic subject, having explored all of Perth's landmarks and well known beauty spots, I've seen everything. Not a single landscape or building of character has escaped my lens. I've traipsed and criss-crossed over the deserted and overgrown corners of my gardens, and through every wing of my charming jarrah floorboarded historic homestead. And now there's nothing left for me to capture on film.

Short of retiring from photography and finding another pastime to fill my spare hours, I need to choose another subject. Clouds perhaps, or pebbles, or mould, or feet. Nothing obvious comes to mind....

Cleaning Up

Participating in Clean Up Australia Day last week, and personally de-littering 0.0000013% of the Australian landmass, I was wondering why I got involved. The free breakfast afterwards helped, but I also relished the chance to crawl around in bushes collecting discarded tissues and half-eaten sandwiches.

But I was conscious of the fact that I was doing someone else's job. The team of groundskeepers and gardeners are responsible for keeping this area looking pristine. And if I were them, I'd be slightly miffed to see a team of amateurs attempting to take over some of their duties. So why not return the favour, and allow the gardeners to spend a day doing my office duties? Let them loose on some computer programs. Or why not let untrained folks to have a go at some auditing or accounting?

My Favourite Cities

Portland.
Also Portland.

First World Problems

How do you respond to someone's whinge about an inconsequential problem that nobody else cares about?

"That's a first world problem."

This is perfect is someone can't decide what colour car seat cover to choose. Or if they run out of truffle oil and the gourmet supermarket has closed. Or if they set the timer to record a movie and missed the last 3 minutes. Or the work air conditioning chills them in summer. You can even buy a sympathy card for these situations.