Boris Johnson is hardly Churchillian

29.03.2020/21.16

I’ve heard world leaders describe the fight against COVID-19 as a war, and there are some parallels. As any student of history knows, there was such a thing as the Munich Agreement before World War II. I’ve managed to secure the summarized English translation below. For those wondering why the UK initially thought […]

A quick look at COVID-19 on a per capita basis

24.03.2020/08.34

Virusncov.com I don’t think it’s easy for most of us to make sense of the number of COVID-19 infections, especially as we’re recording more new infections daily. This website has some useful stats, and I was interested to see how we compared per capita. I know others might get more utility seeing how we […]

Twelve things I do to keep balanced while working from home

17.03.2020/23.08

When I was 13, my father became self-employed after being made redundant at his work. By choice, my mother did the same when I was in my early 20s. They both loved the lifestyle and I imagine it was inevitable I would do the same in my career, beginning at a time when I was […]

The British approach to coronavirus: by Grabthar’s hammer, what a savings

14.03.2020/09.29

Still from AFP video I’d far rather have the action taken by our government than the UK’s when it comes to flattening the curve on coronavirus, and the British response reminds me of this 2018 post. Just because the chief scientific adviser there has a knighthood and talks posh isn’t a reason to trust […]

Coronavirus: the weakening of globalization, and the lessons to learn

12.03.2020/10.19

A generation ago, I don’t think many would have thought that globalization could be brought to its knees by a virus. They may have identified crazy politicians using nationalism as a tool, but probably considered that would not happen in developed economies and democracies sophisticated enough to withstand such assaults. This course correction might […]

Human-centred peripherals should be the norm

02.02.2020/10.02

I’ve had a go at software makers before over giving us solutions that are second-best, because second-best has become the convention. While I can think of an explanation for that, viz. Microsoft packaged Windows computers in the 1990s with Word and Outlook Express, it’s harder to explain why peripherals haven’t been human-centred. I thought […]

The standard Chinese New Year news report

26.01.2020/07.13

Janos Perian from Pixabay Every year, I hear or read a news report along these lines here: It’s Chinese, or the lunar, New Year today, and Asian communities all over New Zealand are coming together with their families to celebrate. It’s the Year of the Rat, which means it will be a lucky and prosperous […]

No longer a customer, Lumino still gives me reason to be wary about how they handle my private data

03.06.2019/08.17

An email sent by me on March 27 to the head office of Lumino (the dentists). Link added for readers’ reference. I’ll let you make up your own minds. Hi Josephine: How are you? I hate to bother you once more, as you had done everything you could to resolve the privacy issues I […]

They only found one set of dentures, so how’s my Dad supposed to eat these solids?

16.12.2018/09.33

You’d think that after the Bupa nurse said Dad’s dentures were found, that would be the end of it. I headed there this afternoon to discover that they only found his upper set. The lower ones are missing. Again, no one there thought of putting him on soft or purée food till my […]

Eighty-three today with Alzheimer’s: a caregiver’s viewpoint

15.08.2018/10.45

Above: Dementia Wellington’s support has been invaluable. Today my father turned 83. It’s a tough life that began during the Sino–Japanese War, with his father being away in the army, and his mother and grandmother were left to raise the family on their land in Taishan, China. In 1949, the Communists seized the […]