Was in a cab the other day, on my way to a meeting. I was having the age-old internal struggle of “Do I make conversation, or pretend I have a really important text message to send?”, when I registered that the woman cabbie had some lovely, carol-like music playing. It was a nice [...]

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So The Orwell Prize has commenced publishing Orwell’s own diaries as a blog. A pretty novel idea I reckon, and a great way to try and bring a deceased writer’s diaries to a new audience, using the medium most are comfortable with. The entries are being posted exactly 70 years to the day [...]

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Lately I’ve been feeling very old and out of touch. Party I think it’s because I am soon to be a father and perhaps the ‘boring’ gene is kicking in? But I also think it’s because lately people seem to be focusing on the things that are less important. The prime example of [...]

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Danny Katz has it spot on - no one is happy being what they are anymore. Please read:
What happened to calling a couch a couch?
Danny Katz
March 13, 2008
Driving down Dandenong Road, and I get stuck at the lights beside a builder’s ute — I know it’s a builder’s ute because it’s got a builder’s [...]

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With the exception of a four/five-month break, I have been a smoker for around 10 years. That all ended nearly two weeks ago. I am now a non-smoker.
The origins of this habit began earlier. I had my first full cigarette the day of my 11th birthday and bought my first packet, myself, [...]

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Overnight Australian time a young Los Angeles resident was jailed for 23 days after a series of minor driving offences. This is bigger news than China’s reluctance to pursue some sort of solution to its contribution to global warming and thus save the planet.
According to Media Monitors, the incarceration of Paris Hilton has received 485 [...]

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“MAKE HIM BEG: KEEP THE UPPER HAND”

“IF SHE LOVES YOU, SHE’LL LOVE YOUR MATES”

Headlines like these are giving false impressions of how things really are. All they really accomplish is to perpetuate false stereotypes and give people an unrealistic set of rules to live by.
What’s required is a move away from the “nightclub philosophy” that [...]

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By the time I got out of bed this morning at 6.30, most Year 12 students had likely spent a sleepless night awaiting their results. These results are not just a grade they receive, but more of a validation of their entire life to date. And that is supremely unfair and a massive burden to [...]

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The execution of Van Nguyen has me all mixed up - I feel different things for different reasons, and I’m still trying to make sense of how it’s affected me.

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I found this at PostSecret:

What a cack. It reminded me of something…
Last week I was reading a book at the library, and out fell a piece of paper with an email address on it… I’m gonna email that address, explain where I found it, and see what happens. Perhaps this could be one of those [...]

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