Now I’m retired, I’m going to indulge myself. The Massive has provided playlist enough, as well as movies.

But what about writers?

I like to think I read a lot, but based on the monthly roundups, there’s a lot I’m missing. Right now, my absolute favorite is Peter Temple.

Born South African, he moved to Australia, and no-one has captured Australia better. His piece in “Red Hand” on the fair go, which I think is the quintessential Australian concept, is wonderful.

I mean, how can you not love “Joe Mirvic made many marks on society, all of the kind that grew scar tissue” as an opener? It’s Banksian in its excellence.

His two books Truth and The Broken Shore are classics. Terse, dry, and incredibly evocative in every paragraph – he deserved every award and nomination he got.

I read him every year, and every year I drag out finishing the books because I enjoy them so much. I cannot recommend him enough.

Who do you not want to put down? Who makes the physical act of reading a pleasure?

It seems like my Dad, 84, will be receiving a diagnosis of myeloma shortly. He’s had a great innings, which is something I’ll need to try to keep front and centre in the future.

I only found out today, so my mind is all over the place. Right now, I’m thinking about his grandkids. So I had a thought about doing a Desert Island Discs kind of thing for them, covering music and/or movies… Give them a permanent thing to hold on to. I’m also trying to navigate the news, and his desire to come to the US in May to see my son graduate University before going to Law School.

But – I wouldn’t have the first idea about how to go about doing that. My music library is probably big enough to cover most of what he’d pick. But doing simple things like recording a conversation, adding in music or playing it live in the chat…I have no idea.

So – any suggestions/tips? I’d like to end up with something I can both burn to a disc and also a sound file that can be played on most mobile products. If I’m off beam, tell me…

Kenneth Calman has died. Oncologist, academic, CMO, and father of Susan Calman.

There was a Facebook post about his passing. I read every single comment posted, and not one negative thing to say. Universal praise, admiration, and love.

How many more of those will we ever see again?

For (particularly Scots) people of a certain age, a large part of Sunday has passed away.

A grand innings of 99, and a grand career.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/cartoon-cavalcade-presenter-glen-michael-dies-aged-99/ar-AA1Il9XO?ocid=BingNewsSerp

I don’t know if this has made it to a wider audience in the UK, but this is a BFD in the States.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in Congress tried to hold hearings on the issue; doubly so if (as seems likely) it turns out the motive for the killing is the way his company has been handling claims.

It happens, coincidentally, on a day when another medical insurance company announced that it will no longer cover any anesthesia-related costs if an operation overruns its allotted time.

I’ve had my own experience with United, the dead man’s company. And I have to say that I’m not entirely surprised that this has happened.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7ve36zg0e5o

James Earl Jones has left us.

What a voice.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce81rkg87w8o

My son’s immediate reaction was “Hitler. Munich Beer Hal”

*sigh* It’s going to be a long few months.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cljy6yz1j6gt

Just found out that Steve Harley has passed on.

I’m not sure what his legacy will be, if he has one at all, because I am the generation after him.

But I saw him more than once with Dad, so for that I am grateful,.

I was out walking the dog this morning – nice and cool, bush for miles – when my playlist produced Huey Lewis and the News “Walking on a thin line”

Now, I know this is something that is (now) screamingly obvious, and I’m the last person on the planet to get it, but it’s a song about being a Vietnam Vet. Not a subject I automatically associated with TPOLHM.

So, in that spirit, what have you learned recently?

I admit – if this is nominally a seated venue, sit the f*ck down. I’m challeneged enough being a short arse. Dipshits waving their arms around just aggravate me,

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/30/1196546225/adele-fan-sit-or-stand-debate-concerts

(Don’t worry, I’ve ;eft plenty of room for @kaisfatdad and his…unique contributions)

I was wondering to me as I looked back over 22, I lived in a bit of a desert, mainly for reasons. I only bought 2 albums released in the year. There were really good albums, but still, poor effort.

I did however, add three artists who left me asking myself “for one who considers himself musicky, how did you not have them already?”, and so to this question:

Who did you discover the past year? Or rediscover who had been on the shelf for a while? Genre-agnostic and media-agnostic.

I’ve long professed to my son that I like older style country and Americana. So I’m a bit embarrassed that it was only in December that I added Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Townes Van Zandt to the collection, and now they feel like old friends.

Well, we’re back from our mini break just outside Adelaide.

There’s something very Australian about having your coffee watching the wallabies going up and down the fence reading the headline “How ‘bin chickens’ learnt to wash poisonous cane toads”.

We visited the obligatory wildlife park, where my wife, the JPL scientist, the woman who project managed Cassini, turned into a child before my eyes.

And then we went to McLaren Vale to NeverNever distillery. Chums, it’s a little piece of heaven. Set in the hills, it has a shaded patio, as well as seating on the lawn, looking out onto the rolling hills and the vines. The gins vary from good to rather fucking excellent. The gin gimlet is excellent. My new chum Fletcher- some bloke who just came up to have a yarn about distilleries in Australia – is a nice fella and enthusiastic. Sharon comes up to check up on me – she’s still nervous about me in public after The Head Thing – and hits me for making a great trans-pacific joke that only works if you know that thongs are one thing in Asutralia nad a ver different thing is the USA.

So that was nice. » Continue Reading.

Those of you who remember I got punched badly – and please, form an orderly queue – might be interested on the outcome.

After a battery of three hours of testing, I have Post Concussive Syndrome. Or mild brain damage, choose your words. The cold comfort was that despite the pretty fucking significant deficits, I remain in the upper performance areas. Great, exceopt the areas I’m suffering on are the things that used to separate me from the crowd.

My ability to take on and remember things is challenged; I can’t accurately recall stuff, either omitting things, or “intrusion inhibition reduction” – I’ll put stuff in that wasn’t there.

The memory is driven by my executive functions being fucked – that’s the technical term. Too many stressors or stimuli, and my brain is overloaded. I used to be able to read and watch tv at the same time, or clear email and participate in a meeting. Not any more. One source of input at a time. Reduce fatigue, stress, emotional distress, and…something else. I have to take things on board in a structured and meaningful way. I’m thinking of getting Sharon to write things on her body to get me » Continue Reading.

Sooooo, I got the report from my Neuropsychologist.

One of the conclusions is that excessive stimuli fuc…messes up my executive functioning, and especiually my memory. Stress, fatigue, lights – and noise.

I can listen to discordant music, but put two clashing noises near me, and there’s a strong chance I’m going to break something. And no, that is not hyperbole.

Going to the grocery store is a nightmare. Now, when I fly, I use large (old) over the earphones that use a 3.5mm jack to go into my iPad. My iPhone doesn’t take those leads.

So I’m looking for recommendations on headphones that are excellent at active noise cancellation. I’m aware that there is a correlation between price and effectiveness. Cheaper end, I might get for myself; pricey goes on the XMas list.

I’m not overly (well, just a little) interested in audiophile details. I want them to cancel the outside world, and leave me with music, sweet sweet music, in my ears.

Massive, do your thing.

Possibly of limited interest as it is rugby union, and the women’s version. But the tournament has been so good, it deserves a mention.

You know how you get jaded watching a lot of male players in a lot of sports – rugby andf football, predominantly.Trying to con the referee, trying to niggle someone into doing something stupid…rugby alos has the ill that the men right now are playing a dull, unimaginative game plan.

The women? That was an absolute joy the last few Saturdays and Sundays. They just want to play rugby, and there is very little of the stupidity in the men’s game. Sure, there’s less power, but that means they have space in which to play and run, and by and large they try to do that. England are excepted, but their rolling maul is, from a rugby perspective, incredibly sexy.

4 absolute standout teams, but even the also rans, who knew they were on to a cuffing, played hard, and ended with a smile.

The refereeing, barring two brain farts in the quarter finals, have been excellent. There was a Scot in the final – Hollie Davidson. She made a BIG decision that I know » Continue Reading.

On Monday evening, I made a rather nice Chicken Marsala. We both enjoyed it.

As is our wont, I cook, Sharon cleans up. So, all good.

Tuesday evening I hear a lot of cursing about “the drawer”. Being male, I assumed I’d done something stupid, until I heard the question “did you put the chicken in the drawer or did I?”. It turns out that brains of our outfit – and she really is – had taken the leftovers, put them in a glass container, and then…put them in the drawer where all the clean glassware goes. So, not in the fridge. She was most upset, as she had enjoyed the chicken.

I opined that it was bloody well cooked, in alcohol and it’d be fine to eat. This suggestion was not well received; disbelief might be a good way of putting it. She suggested I throw the question to the Massive, so…

Would you eat the chicken?

Has quit this mortal coil. Lung cancer related at the age of 74.

One of the funniest writers I’ve read, and one of the most skillful. I got Republican Party Reprile when I were but a lad, and I giggled like a loon when I read it. I giggled when I reread it later in life, but I appreciated the art in his writing, especially the way that he was telling his view of thr truth but masking it with witticism.

It was,, of course, a very simplified view of conservatism, and one that reflected a view of AMerica and its potential that obviously not everyone could get to. But on a certain level, there was a kernel of truth in what he wrote.

And what a life. National Lampoon, inspiring Animal House, Rolling Stone, countless books…

I’ve been sniffling for much of the day as I’ve been reading the inevitable twitter comments and tributes, as well as the longer form tributes. He seems to have been a genuinely good man, and much loved by all who came into his orbit. Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell me posted this letter he got from O’Rourke: https://twitter.com/petersagal/status/1493782319693324296s=20&t=G8qGmTw3R6tK1uOUuxqOQQ

There » Continue Reading.

In the latest Blogger Takeover, I commented that my recent find – McCulloch’s Thomas Cromwell – reignited my love of reading.

Honest to God, studying an MBA just destroyed my love of reading for the sake of reading. The ability to just bask in a book and what it’s saying, asopposed to taking notes and destroying pure enjoyment.

I’m on holidy, so I went to a bookshop. As well as replacing my lost Hilary Mantel, I got a sci-fi compilation, edited by Jerry Pournelle, about Black Holes. He may have been an arse in real life, but he knows his scifi, that’s for sure. I just spent an afternoon basking in the book, and some stellar authors.

In turn, it prompted me to start organizing my unread Kindles into a “must read” list. and to remind myself to read something just for the sake of reading for the rest of the year.

So – not your favorite book; not your best book. What are the books that maken you love reading? (Yes, comics are allowed, because I have Luke Kirby in my queue). The books in which you can lose a couple of hours quite easily – the flight from » Continue Reading.