The motto of the Olympics is ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’, Latin for ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’. It was proposed in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, the French educationalist, historian, and founder of the modern Olympic movement…
Parapraxis, according to Sigmund Freud, is an error of speech due to an unconscious wish or internal train of thought.[1] More than moments of humour and humiliation, these ‘Freudian slips’ (as they came to be called) are supposedly windows into our true thoughts and feelings…
The British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has an illustrious CV. For 13 years he held the University of Oxford’s Chair in the Public Understanding of Science and in 2001 was made a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society. He’s authored nineteen books and countless articles and received numerous honours. His most important work has been on the role of genes and DNA in evolution, culminating in his…
Jesus mostly eschewed the limelight, preferring to preach and heal through small gestures that encouraged and persuaded, rather than big ones that wowed and overwhelmed. But sometimes He “let rip”, as it were, and today was such a day. He goes up a mountain as if He were the new Moses. But where the first Moses went to converse with God, this One is revealed to be the very conversation of God, the Logos, communication…
In 1955, Life magazine published an article on a new trend sweeping through households known as ‘throwaway living’.[1] There was an image of a family tossing household items like crockery and cutlery into the air, delighting in the freedom that was said to come from disposability. By getting rid of things after one use…
The adventure film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, was released in the year 2000. It tells the story of Chuck Noland, a FedEx troubleshooter who is stranded on a desert island following a plane crash. As the sole survivor, he must fend for himself, finding food, water and shelter, and try to find a way back to civilisation…
The term ‘quiet quitting’ first appeared in the social media a little over two years ago. A 17-second video clip that went viral on TikTok sparked a global debate about work especially amongst young, disaffected professionals. The online trend quickly morphed into a broader social phenomenon, with countless articles appearing in the mainstream media…
A recent article in Seek.com outlined the importance of a well-crafted job description for attracting suitable candidates and establishing expectations for the role.[i] According to the experts, a good j.d. must showcase the company, describe the critical functions and core responsibilities of the position, and specify qualifications and rewards.
It was probably the largest gathering ever held in Sydney. Half a million people packed the streets for a week. The opening and closing ceremonies gathered people of every stripe from all around our city, country and globe, ordinary people both young and old, and a Who’s Who of celebrities. Despite adverse publicity in the lead up, Sydney was a joyful host, and in the end almost everyone judged it a great success…
There’s a million dollar purse just waiting for you. All you have to do is be the first person to solve one of seven extremely complex maths problems.[1] Some of the conundrums are centuries old and have been attempted by some of the most brilliant minds in history. But in the 24 years since the Millennium Prize Problems were set and the reward offered by the Clay Mathematics Institute…
You’ve probably all heard of Siri, Alexa, Bixby and Google Assistant: in fact, at your young age, you probably know more about these things than I do. Some of you have already used them and most of you will in the future. They are virtual assistants for your smart phone, watch, tablet or computer, that perform tasks like reading out messages…
The Irish poet, dramatist and senator, William Butler Yeats, was one of the foremost literary figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1923 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for “his always inspired poetry, which in highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.”[1] A central figure in the resurgence of Irish literature,[2] his influence stretched…
