Mayor4Unley

Have a read of the book My Life in Ruins by Adam Ford. He’s an Archaeologist who has participated in digs around the globe. He ponders the period 8,000-10,000 years ago when people switched to farming from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Why would they do that? He reckons … you only have to work for an hour a day to get enough food, and spend the rest of the time lounging around creating very elaborate creation myths and taboos and things. An interesting concept, but most of our inland (non-coastal) Australian Aborigines did not switch to farming … yet they had time to dream and construct creation myths and taboos.

Something I didn’t know … According to Google , it derived its name from the mathematical term googol which is defined as the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros. It looks like this: 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000. It would look even bigger with all the commas! Back in 1920 the term googol was coined by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, the nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularised the concept and term in 1940. Googol is a nice term. Other  names for the same number are: ten duotrigintillion , ten thousand sexdecillion and ten sexdecilliard . A googol is a simpler term. It doesn’t really have much everyday use in the non-scientific community, but it comes into play in complex mathematics, investigations into the mass of an electron or the universe. If you are starting to get excited, then follow  this link

This week is officially Australian Bacon Week ... who dreams up these things? I mean we don't have a National Geranium Week do we? ... or maybe we do. There surely must be a register to show the themes, topics, subjects or charities that get recognised for a day or a week. Back to bacon. It's the time to recognise the joy of bacon, especially properly smoked bacon. A burger is lacking without bacon (and beetroot) and there's nothing like hot bacon on toast. Add cracked black pepper and a dollop of real baked beans with a touch of chilli sauce and you have a gourmet meal; to be enjoyed at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Preparation time 5 minutes, cooking time 5 minutes and lingering satisfaction for the rest of the day. It's a sad statistic that ~ 70% of pork sold in Australia is imported. What you buy at the supermarket is mostly imported. Don't buy it. Be wary of imported bacon. You have no idea of the hygiene and ethical controls. Only buy Australian grown and p...

'Squishy' batteries can be made from trees – this may be the future. Zero pollution. A new type of squishy battery has been designed. It’s made from tree pulp and is 'squishy' to touch, but is stress and shock resistant. Also, it is ideally wearable, embedded in our clothes to power own 'wearable' devices. Importantly, it is not harmful to the environment when disposed. The description gets a bit more technical so I’ll leave you to read the link below. It’s amazing how our (technology) environment is transforming as a result of technology research. Read more here

What a fantastic initiative. A Virtual War Memorial website has been created and receives SA Government funding to enable students to contribute stories. Schools  are being encouraged to get students involved. School children will be urged to get involved in an online project telling the stories of those who have served Australia in war. The South Australian Government is providing $780,000 over four years to a partnership project between the state Education Department and the Returned and Services League (RSL). The Virtual War Memorial was launched as a Centenary of Anzac project. It is planned to increase the collection of online biographies and records of servicemen and women. It’s a good looking website that encourages participation. Make sure that your local school is involved. For more information, click here For more information, click here Click here to visit the Virtual War Memorial

I was delighted to hear that the State Government has allocated funding to re-seal Goodwood Road between Florence Street and Mitchell Street @ Goodwood – a distance of about 600m. This is a bad section of Goodwood Road and I have been advocating for a re-seal for some time. According to the statement from the Minister, work is to start immediately. I am hoping that common sense will prevail and the road will be re-sealed after the road works to under-ground the power lines – due to start later this year.

I’ve been reading an interesting article on Australian architect Peter Stutchbury. A fascinating read on a remarkable man. Talking about architecture and inspiration, here’s a quote from him … “I’d say real beauty is found with the least number of ingredients and the most amount of thinking.” A profound and yet so simple a statement.