Rachel Patience Lawson Whitley
My great-great-grandmother, Rachel, left her native Ireland for New South Wales. She lived a hard life at times and was sometimes in trouble with the law. Hers is an interesting story.
Alexander Albin (Albion)
My great-great-grandfather, Alexander, left his native Ireland for Sydney, moved on to Toowoomba, and then went west. There were some bumps along the way but he built a life for himself and his sons.
My ancestral rabbit hole
I’ve had a couple of false starts at family history over the years. This time I made more progress along one line than previously and thought it worth telling the story. Now that I have a taste for it I might dig some more.
How can Australia move forward?
Australia has a long history of mistreatment of our indigenous peoples. Occasional hopeful signs of progress are followed by periods of regression. We have to find a way forward.
Is Australian democracy at risk?
The news today says that Australian kids are not learning civics well enough. Should we be worried? How well can you do on the sample quiz?
Chatting about code
I’ve been an amateur programmer for more than 50 years but have never done enough to remain fluent in any language. That has required constant relearning. Now ChatGPT enables me to explain what I need and have working code generated or have my own coding errors corrected.
Be alert, call it out!
Misinformation may seem harmless but the cumulative effect is not. Our best defence may be for each of us to be alert and call it out when we see it.
A photographic adventure
I’m generally comfortable with taking photos, mostly birds and plants, and processing them in Lightroom. Only occasionally do I need the power of Photoshop. When I do there is often learning to be done.
Nothing happened again!
My good intentions failed again. I’ve been silent for months. Perhaps I’ll manage to do better next year.
ALP fails again
Having reached government as a small target the ALP does not have the courage to implement its own policies. Perhaps it’s time to display the ALP logo inverted in the sign of distress.