Flea's bite

Flea’s bite

  • Meaningful action

    We are hearing this almost constant refrain that nothing Australia does can change the emissions. Our emissions are so small in relation to world emissions that if we radically change our economy, we will do little to help the climate change emergency. So, what is the true picture? First, the emitters. Here is the graph…

  • Why Greta is important to us all

    Original Washington Post article If autism had no selective advantage, evolution would have ‘washed’ the human genome of it eons ago. The fact that it exists is not only a testament to its necessity for human survival but that it must derive from, or is an extension of, an existing, more fundamental, propensity in our…

  • A small bite of the mushroom

    Apparently, Lewis Carrol (not his real name) was so pissed off with the way Maths was being studied and thought about, he lampooned it in a now-famous children’s book – Alice in Wonderland. While we are blessed to have such an entertaining story, I do rather think Charlie was just a bit of an old…

  • The Flood, the Resurrection etc and literal understanding

    In the nearly 40 years that I have taught English, the comprehension of literal and figurative has been one of the most problematic elements of language understanding and use. In most cases, literal is used as an antonym to figurative, which implies the use of some sort of comparison or language device to convey or…

  • An Easter like no other

    I think it was Richard Feynman who said something like “Physics isn’t reality. It is our model of reality. This model is very useful.” So, when we look at the universe, we ‘see’ gravity. Gravity fits into a model of the universe called Newtonian Physics. It is useful because we can use it to predict…

  • Of blind men and elephants

    A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when…

  • A small bite for a Wednesday

    In response to this: https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/04/13/pastor-dies-of-covid-19-after-telling-crowded-church-god-would-defeat-covid-19 John Reid writes: “What the heck is wrong with these people? Do they not believe that their God gave them a functioning brain and that the best idea is to stay home? It is a valid question. What ARE they thinking? My friend Larry Gohl replies: I will respond. Many…