Heard of Learned Helplessness? It is a condition first researched in the 1960s by a team of psychologists that included Professor Martin Seligman. A group of dogs were given mild electric shocks. Some dogs could press a button to stop the shocks, while a second group...
A tell-tale our family is on holiday is a jigsaw puzzle. A Stackpool holiday isn’t a holiday without a tricky new puzzle. The puzzling can take all holidays, with the puzzle spot remaining frustratingly off-limits for non-puzzling activities until the puzzle has...
I was a COBOL programmer. Not a very good one, but that didn’t matter in the early 1980s. Back then, every Tuesday’s Australian newspaper featured a twenty-four-page IT section, of which many pages advertised programming and analyst positions available, with most from...
I reckon Shaftesbury Avenue was one of Australia’s greatest weight-for-age horses. Although dominated in handicapped races of the early 1990s by another great horse, Super Impose, I have always believed Shaftesbury was a better horse. I’m biased. My...
I love trekking. I used to regard anyone walking with poles as a tad too keen. Now I’m one of those pole people. It is not just the poles. I’m discovering all sorts of great, weird stuff. For instance, I don’t know what it is, but I find the combination of conversing...
I love the bush. I reckon it has something to do with my four grandparents being raised in NSW’s central west. It never ceases to amaze me how much I enjoy touring on unmarked open country roads with windows down and the elements whooshing in. Even when...
