“Do Not Believe Anything on Hearsay…” The Words of Wisdom and Caution which Guided Alan Marshall Through Life

In March 1974 a few hundred people gathered at Monash University in Melbourne for a weekend listening to “The Personal Philosophies of Some Eminent Australians”. Eagerly anticipated was Alan Marshall, celebrated Australian author, humanitarian and storyteller par excellence. Mr Marshall was well-known to Australian school children as the author of “I Can Jump Puddles”, the account of his childhood encounter with and triumph over polio. “The third piece of equipment I carried was a saying that I wrote down in my notebook and I’ll read it out to you and I carried it with me and it’s guided me through life… it was a statement attributed to Buddha.

Disappearing Insects and The Invisible Rainbow

Could the observed disappearance of insects in the natural world be a result of the widespread rollout of mobile phone technology? A response prompted by my recent reading of the book “The Invisible Rainbow — A History of Electricity and Life” by Arthur Firstenberg.

What I Learned from Mrs Carbury the Organic Gardener

I remember Mrs Carbury in her motorised wheelchair, the vehicle that provided mobility within her small bed-sitter and beyond into her large organic vegetable and herb garden, a place of teaching and learning.

Remembering Ken Field

The following was written in December 1988 after attending the funeral of Ken Field, former Bursar of Scotch College in Melbourne.

Drought in 2003

I wrote the following on 29th January 2003. Now we are facing the same situation again it seems. Climate is cyclical?

Cohousing That Never Was

Sometime in the 1970s the Danes invented a new way of collective living — neighbourhoods designed, built and managed by the people who lived there. The English name for these is “Cohousing”.

Endless Growth

Travelling through the Gold Coast in 2006, I was struck by the vista of materialism gone awry.

Moving House

Some thoughts on moving house.

Marketing A Community

How do you market houses in an intentional community? Some thoughts from 2003.

Is Software Development a Viable Business?

For a couple of years now I’ve been attempting to create some software products which could be sold to a wider market — beyond this small town. It’s a slow process.

About this Blog

This is a blog of miscellaneous topics drawn mainly from life experiences, observations and reflections.