I must confess, I am a little overwhelmed by the wishes for a speedy recovery that I have received from many people, especially on Facebook. Now a week after I was under the knife, recovery from the operation is going really well with no complications and with a gradual removal of dressings. There are of course limitations on what I am allowed to ( Read more... )

Who would have thought that in the Year of the Rat, I would help initiate a national campaign to draw attention to the extinction of Australian fauna. Well, I knew I was going to but I wasn't sure what I was going to do. With memorial services, letters to politicians, and a mention in parliament, a new national day is established. Now, the United ( Read more... )

Earlier in the week I noted that the coming Lunar new year would be the Year of the Rat; specifically a metal rat. Because 2020 is also famous for being a cyberpunk year, this obviously meant it would be the Year of the Stainless Steel Rat. Which means I've started plans for an appropriately named cyberpunk convention. This was the beginning of a ( Read more... )

My surprise at Tramper rat still being alive at our return to NZ proved to be short-lived. The following morning his body was still so prior to work I buried him in the backyard and planted forget-me-nots. At 33 months (82.5 rat years) Tramper was the last of his trio, the largest and oldest of the group. In his younger days he was certainly the ( Read more... )

Firstly, I want to thank everyone on LJ, DW, G+, and FB who expressed their condolences with the passing of Rover the rat last week. It touched me deeply that so many of you, nearly all who have spent no time in his company, saw fit to respond to my little eulogy. I make apologies for not responding to all the wishes in person, as I have been away ( Read more... )

Rover the Rat unexpectedly died last night, almost certainly of a heart attack. He had been his usual very active self the previous day, and had just enjoyed a plate of food. However I was worried as he seemed a little tired when I put him to sleep last night. This morning he was but a dead rat, and joins the cadavers of many others that are in our ( Read more... )

In the past few days wrote-up an lengthy Isocracy Newsletter (members only), and have just posted The Shambling Mound's Tenth Week. This Thursday is the University of Melbourne Secular Society AGM. In other such gatherings, a week ago I went to see Barry Jones talk at the Unitarians about changes in employment and populism. He's very knowledgeable ( Read more... )

It's been a tough week at work; not so much on matters of complexity, but rather on sheer volume. With last week's cluster and cloud computing, there has been in an influx of over two hundred master's level students to the HPC system and the inexperience of quite a few is evident. Such is the effects of an entire generation of computer users who ( Read more... )

Took the opportunity to see One More Time With Feeling, the latest Nick Cave movie based on the production of his latest album The Skeleton Tree. Overall it was an excellent piece of work, and I really enjoyed the screen time given to Warren Ellis and Suzy Cave. But as the movie wore on the grief that Nick and Suzy share with the death of their son ( Read more... )

Visited the David Bowie exhibition with Liz B., Karl B., and caseopaya on Sunday on a special event organised by the Australian Sex Party. Spent a fair bit of time chatting with Fiona Patten, the party's leader and member in the Victorian parliament. They've done very well over the past six years as a minor party and have managed to succeed well beyond ( Read more... )