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Beautiful Clifton Beach, a few minutes walk from our new home nestled between the rainforest clad mountains and the coral sea in tropical North Queensland
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DAVE
ROBINSON'S
FRONT PAGE
Philosophy, Travel,
Humanism, Culture
Music, Photos
and oddments from
Down Under
david robinson daverobinson.id.au david robinson
ethics, empiricism, logic, maths, Central Humanism, Australian society and social issues,
worldwide travel, ergonomic computer keyboards, classical music, traditional jazz,
popular music, poetry, wildlife, soccer and more - watch this space for developments
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"Those things that unite us as Australians are much greater
and more enduring than those that divide us"
(John Howard, conceding defeat in the July 1987 Federal election)
Hi! - Thanks for visiting this site. The various articles cover quite a wide range of topics, so I hope you'll find something of interest. The level of writing is very uneven: a passing acquaintance with western academic philosophy, logic and/or mathematics would assist the digestion of some of the more esoteric stuff.
I'm an ex-agricultural researcher, a zoologist by training, born in India of English parents, educated mainly in the UK, married with two children (of mature age), now an Australian citizen living in Queensland - the State which I fondly call home, yet which I believe should be abolished! (along with all the other States and Territories - see Footnote*). My reasons for migrating included the weather, environment, working conditions and escaping from English (especially female) obliqueness, which I could never handle (I'm the world's worst mind reader).
Never was a person luckier than one raised in the Devonshire countryside, then settled in Australia. Since my arrival in 1971, my family has moved house many times, living in Sydney's western suburbs, the NSW Northern Tablelands, various Brisbane suburbs, the Sunshine Coast (just north of Brisbane) and currently at Clifton Beach, north of the holiday town of Cairns in far north Queensland. The vagrant life is entertaining but not necessarily to be recommended. There's something more solidly human about picking a pleasant spot in the country and building up a permanent home and lifestyle there from scratch. In today's world few people are able to go down this road.
Dave Robinson is an exceedingly common name. Because of my amateurish interest in philosophy, I had better mention that I am definitely not the Dave Robinson who is a professional philosopher and writer of the fascinating book "Introducing Philosophy" and several other books in the "Introducing ..." series.
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Another view of Clifton Beach
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Interests – Mainly music, philosophy, humanism, wildlife, travel and (as a spectator) soccer. See below for more detail and other pursuits. It's obvious my interest in website design is minimal, but at least the entire site was assembled from first principles without the help of a webpage builder (except for the digital cameras page).
"Antirests" – These are entrenched interests, persuasions, predispositions or customs that other people may hold (if not he people themselves) but which I happen to find deeply disturbing or just futile. Examples are religion (see below and this article), prolificacy (the population explosion), torture and cruelty, child abuse (especially psychological abuse), genocide ("ethnic cleansing"), the United Nations (incredible impotence and inconsistency), Australian federalism (see Footnote 1), politicians in general, logging of natural forest, current animal production and fishing practices, land, water and energy misuse (especially by large corporations), the Australian taxation system (suffocating effluent breeding faster than flies), "political correctness" (a pitiful kind of deceit), foreign English (I rue the day that Esperanto fell by the wayside) and miscellaneous other social trends. (Notice how I say all this in the same breath!).
Disinterests – These are things that leave me totally unmoved (except, perhaps, for a feeling of baffled amusement), although in most cases I acknowledge their worth and generally believe the world would be a poorer place without them. Examples are Shakespeare, athletics, line dancing, computer games and about 95% of movies.
My idols and heroes include Kant, Beethoven, Einstein, Mandela, our "diggers" and war veterans and my wife, whose efforts in voluntary community work I especially applaud. Many Australians, believe it or not, have never heard of one or more of the four celebrities in this list, but few would fail to recognise my idol of the moment, that remarkable youngster, Bindy Irwin, daughter of Terri and deceased “crocodile hunter”, Steve Irwin. Long may she reign! (but I don't hold the same opinion about the crocs - see Footnote 2 ).
more.....
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