North Sydney! This bus is North Sydney!

I have, on occasion, commented in the past about my adventures on buses and have ruminated on the process of catching a bus and buying tickets for a bus in Sydney.

I am, once again, able to interact daily with the Sydney bus service and I must say that I have noticed that the bus drivers seem more willing to converse with their passengers. I suspect they have had some sort of civility training or perhaps they have been sued. Who can tell.

Fabulous Faecal Facts

Some time ago I worked with a chap that was in the habit of advising me of the details of his bowel movements. He spoke with a rather posh British accent that I was reliably informed was a ‘Sandhurst accent’ and indeed he had been an officer in the British military. He sounded quite a lot like Trevor Bailey, the former English cricketer and sometime commentator.

On occasion, in this very proper accent, he would stand upright and loudly announce; “It’s time for my 2 o’clock poo!” He would then pivot  in a military fashion and depart in the direction of the men’s room. On his return he would usually make some further comment, usually along the lines of everything having “come out splendidly” but occasionally a more graphic description of the process along the lines of “I’ve just passed a bowel movement the exact size and shape of a coconut. Extraordinary!”

I Lost my Phone in Japan

LERK [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) or CC BY-SA 2.1 jp (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.1/jp/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

So I was back in Japan again last week and I am pleased to report that it is still quite Japanese. I live in mortal fear of Japan becoming westernised in some way and my first check is to see how westernised it has become while I was away. I can report that the westernisation continues to encroach but it’s having a hard time of it.

Blockchain: It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

Photo One

There’s been a lot of hype around blockchain and associated technologies recently and in case you were wondering, it is entirely warranted. Blockchain is going to change everything. The change will be as big as anything we’ve seen since about 1989 and if you can get on board quickly, so much the better for you.

An email I sent to my Boss today

For those of you who weren't already aware, I am slightly miffed to report that I am working once again. My employer, with some justification, has elected to employ me as a contractor, hoping I suspect that I will do something vaguely useful, but also aware that as a contractor it will be much simpler to terminate my services in the event that I either i. fail to do something useful or ii. do something so outrageous that they can no longer employ me without damaging their own reputation.

Profoundly Deaf and Composing Classical Western Music in Japan

Back in the dark days of 2001, just a few short days after the World Trade Centre attack, Time Magazine published a touching story about a Japanese composer who had lost his hearing just at the time he was beginning to be recognized. Momoru Samuragochi was born in Hiroshima in 1963 to parents who where both hibakusha or atomic bomb survivors. Hibakusha and their children have suffered terrible discrimination in Japan and there is little doubt that Samuragochi would have also suffered because of this. Among other things, he had no classical music training at all despite being a prodigious talent from an early age and possessing 'perfect pitch' - the ability to determine a note without reference.

The Perils of Speaking Unpopular Truth

Several months ago, I wrote a post about Virtuous Authoritarians that mentioned Islam in passing, then last December I wrote a post highlighting the overrepresentation of Islamic groups in the Global Terrorism Database and finally, about two weeks ago I wrote a longish post on the difficulty of even suggesting that there is a problem with Islam. This is the sum total of my writings on Islam but nonetheless punishment is being meted out for my recklessness.

Letter to an Anti Trump Campaigner

Dear Anti-Trump Campaigner

I’d like you to calm down for a minute or two. Take a deep breath, put down the placard and think about what you are doing. I’d like you to read this little epistle. I’ll make it as short as I can, but I want to make sure that I get three key points across to you. Three things I’d like you to think about.

We Need to Talk About Islam

Over the last few months, I have had an occasional exchange with a faithful reader on the subject of Christianity specifically and religiosity more generally and I am in fact working on yet another response to said faithful reader (soon, I promise!). Our discussion has been good humoured and thoughtful and conducted with mutual respect. That’s the way it ought to be. I can disagree with the opinion held by a person, but once I attack the person themselves or begin to appeal to emotion rather than logic, I lose all relevance.

Bourke Street Attack

A few days ago there was a tragic incident in Melbourne where a disturbed man drove a car at high speed through parts of the city including the Bourke Street Mall. The end result was that 5 people were killed and more than 20 injured, not counting the trauma suffered by those not physically injured. The dead included a 3 month old baby and a 10 year old girl.