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The Humble Percent & Food Labels

In Food, Australia, The rest by tony2 Comments

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  24 November 2017 The Humble Percentage and Food Labels Introduction Percent or (percentage) used to be spelled per cent (and sometimes still is). It comes from the latin per centum meaning by the hundred. What percent means is changing any list of numbers that add up to an irregular total into a modified list that …

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What is History 6: Religion

In Books, The rest by tony1 Comment

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  2 October 2017 My what is history series somewhat naively perhaps looks at history from the broad perspective of what processes an intelligent naked ape might go through to develop civilisation. From that perspective the study of human history should also consider the external forces, including geography, environment, disease and natural disasters that have shaped …

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Classic SciFi 9: Isaac Asimov I, Robot & Killer Robots

In Books, The rest by tony4 Comments

     Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  1 April 2017 Isaac Asimov I, Robot & Killer Robots Today Introduction The killer robots come later. I bought two novels at Asia Books in Bangkok in late February and was offered, as part of a promotion, one book free from a remainder pile. I dithered between a beginners guide to Nietzche (not a Belgian — …

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Atoms, Bytes, Genes

In Books, The rest by tony3 Comments

Featured image: Detail from Genetic Drift 1, Tony Stewart, July 2004    Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  2 February 2017 Atoms, Bytes & Genes: Science in the 21st century Preamble I made a political statement about science in a recent article 1984 The Way We Were. We also needed someone in the 1990s and in the twenty-first century to remind us that …

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What is History 5: EH Carr Historians & their facts

In Books, The rest by tony5 Comments

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  1 January 2017 My what is history series somewhat naively perhaps looks at history from the broad perspective of what processes an intelligent naked ape might go through to develop civilisation. From that perspective the study of human history should also consider the external forces, including geography, environment, disease and natural disasters that have …

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1984: The way we were

In Australia, Books, The rest by tony2 Comments

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  14 December 2016 1984: The way we were and the way we are now It is 1984. I am just shy of 19, Reagan is about to be re-elected in the US, Thatcher is administering the UK, and our new prime minister, Bob Hawke, along with his treasurer, Paul Keating, is planning his own quiet …

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Secret City Trilogy Steve Lewis & Chris Uhlmann

In Australia, Books, The rest by tonyLeave a Comment

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  21 November 2016  Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis’s novels, The Marmalade Files, The Mandarin Code and The Shadow Game (Secret City) Cybersecurity I have been thinking that I should write something about cybersecurity and the slow moving tragedy of what is happening to the Internet. But there is so much, the task seems daunting and …

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Dog Story

In Travel, The rest, UK by tony4 Comments

Featured image: Jack, Dukie and Denise    Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  20 September 2016 Doggie Tails Original title, which I much prefer. House-sitting, Buckinghamshire, UK Setting The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. We were house-sitters in two locations here in Buckinghamshire during the summer of 2014. The first place we spent one week, had a …

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What is History 4: Love

In Books, The rest by tony3 Comments

Featured image: Comedian colleagues demonstrate jealousy, Japan    Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  1 August 2016 My what is history series somewhat naively perhaps looks at history from the broad perspective of what processes an intelligent naked ape might go through to develop civilisation. From that perspective the study of human history should also consider the external forces, including geography, environment, …

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Classic SciFi 5: William Gibson’s Art of Prophecy

In Books, The rest by tony2 Comments

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  10 June 2016 Classic SciFi 5: William Gibson’s Art of Prophecy Introduction The articles Classic Scifi 4: William Gibson Neuromancer 1984 and The Art of Prophesy & William Gibson provide a necessary background. The articles to follow on Count Zero 1986 and Mona Lisa Overdrive 1988 will complete the series. I introduced the Guardian article by Ed …

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The art of prophecy

In Books, The rest by tony3 Comments

Featured prophecy image: Tiger & Crow Mannequins, Shop Display Bangkok    Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  Friday 13 May 2016 The art of prophecy & William Gibson  Introduction I hadn’t intended to write this article about prophecy at all. Following Classic Scifi 4: William Gibson Neuromancer the next step was to analyse William Gibson’s prescience and his ability to prophesy elements …

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Marie Kondo, Tidying

In Books, Japan, The rest by tony3 Comments

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony, 14 March 2016 Introduction Marie Kondo The life-changing magic of tidying 2014. 2016 might be my year for getting excited over weird books. The Big Twitch in January and Gut in February are good examples. I mentioned my normal views on self-help books in my discussion of Gut by Giulia Enders and how I lean towards Steve …

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Giulia Enders, Gut

In Germany, Books, The rest by tony2 Comments

   Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony, 21 February 2016 Introduction Giulia Enders Gut: the inside story of our body’s most under-rated organ 2015. Enders honesty about herself in the beginning of her Foreward is astonishing and endearing. I was born by caesarean section, she says and goes on to say that she couldn’t breast feed and was lactose intolerant until the age …

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What is History 3: The Medieval Mind

In Art, Books, The rest by tony2 Comments

Featured image: The Medieval Mind, Bode Museum, Berlin 2014    Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony, 1 February 2016 My what is history series somewhat naively perhaps looks at history from the broad perspective of what processes an intelligent naked ape might go through to develop civilisation. From that perspective the study of human history should also consider the external forces, including geography, …

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J.B.S. Haldane The Origin of Life, 1929

In Books, The rest by tony2 Comments

Featured Image: Detail from the cover of My Friend Mr Leakey    Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony, 18 December 2015    J.B.S. Haldane The Origin of Life, 1929    Introduction    The fact about science, is that everyone who has made a serious contribution to it is aware, or very strongly suspects, that the world is not only queerer than anyone …