The Lifespan of a Fact

The Lifespan of a Fact is an interesting play, with the basic theme being the friction between facts and ‘truth’ – can statistics and accuracy be compromised in the interests of “creative writing”?  

We saw this play at MTC.    It’s thought-provoking, with a few one-liners.   There’s lots of “wordiness” and some repetition (deliberate, of course).   There are some inter-generational issues, and even an element of obsessive compulsiveness.   As I say, it’s OK but hardly worthy of the rave review it got here.

More particularly, Jim Fingal has a perspective that is generationally different from venerated essayist John D’Agata’s and finds John’s ‘essential truth’ to be full of ‘white lies’ and  problematic.  It’s apparently based on interchanges that occurred in about 2005 between these actual people.

I suppose my fundamental issue is that, to me, creative writing is in one camp, and descriptive writing is in another.   There’s a place for each.   Is it just me, but if a writer is going to take “liberties” with the actual facts, then just explain to the readers that this has occurred.   This play leaves open various possibilities, but one of these is that somehow it’s OK to massage the truth a little in the interests of “creative writing”, without informing the reader.   

Well, if so, is “creative writing” any different to politics?  The production has obviously resisted the enormous temptation to update the script to include any references to the fact that, since the era of the play (2003-2005, with the book on which it’s based written in 2012), in some circles it’s become accepted that politicians can take considerable liberties with the “truth”.  Think Trump.    Would a contemporary version of the play attempt to draw a distinction between “creative writing” and “fake news”?

There’s a detailed program on line.

4th of July

Americans take the 4th of July (and here) very seriously.  However, it doesn’t seem to have had much publicity in Australia this year.   I suppose that’s partly because the media reports events after they’ve occurred and the US gets to the 4th of July many hours after we do!

A “tree” change

There’s been lots of media chat about people thinking about moving out of the cities, to the beach, the regions or interstate.    But I was a little surprised by the flyer that was in our letterbox – from an agent in Merbein promoting a house for sale at Irymple.    Like most people, I’ve vaguely considered the options for a move, although realistically there’s zero chance of us actually doing that.    But Sunraysia? That hadn’t even come close to entering my mind!    I wonder why the agent chose our area to do their letterbox drop?

1 July

So, it’s the 1st of July.    That means, a new financial year – and we have to start thinking about tax returns.

For Canadians, it’s “Canada Day“, celebrating the anniversary of Canadian confederation which occurred on 1 July 1867.

Retirement

This month marks five years since I officially “retired”.   It’s true that I had been “transitioning” to full retirement for a number of years prior to that and that the amount of actual productive work I was doing had been declining (although I  only got paid for what I actually did).   

In hindsight, the ability to be able to “wind down” made all the difference to me.    This related to the companionship offered in the office environment as much as the intellectual endeavour.   In time before I finished, a number of work colleagues also departed, and this process has, I understand, continued since then.    So the office environment changed a lot.    Since fully retiring, I’ve made an effort  to keep up with a range of contacts, none of whom are still with the firm.    I’ve made an effort to retain a number of other interests which has helped a lot, but now I find I need to step back even from some of these.

The world, too, has changed, especially with “covid”.    For now, I’m grateful just for the fortune (good and even the not-so-good) that has come my way over the years. 

 

Third party ATMs

The ANZ ATM at our local shopping centre has been re-branded as an “ATM X”. It’s in the same location and is seemingly the same machine, just with a different label. I now see that ANZ has transferred ownership of its off-site ATMs to Armaguard.    In fact it seems that Armaguard has forged a tie up with CBA as well as ANZ.   On the other hand, rival, Prosegur has apparently taken control of most of Westpac’s offsite ATMs.

I suppose this is unobjectionable, given that I can still use my ANZ card at these machines without a fee.     However, apparently anyone  whose bank hasn’t reached a deal with Armaguard will be charged a  fee every time they withdraw.   In this case it makes much more sense to use the cash-out facility at the supermarket.  

 

 

Citrus

It seems to have been a good year for the citrus trees. Although our lemon tree hasn’t performed very well (perhaps as a result of the heavy pruning a few months ago – lots of leaves but not much fruit), we’ve had fruit both from the potted lemon and mandarin that are in our courtyard.     And we’ve been kindly given some home grown oranges and lemons, too.

We’ve been given some oranges and lemons

Mandarins

The potted lemon has come good for the first time ever

The possums have been getting to some of the lemons before us.

Chadstone – 60 years

I see that Chadstone’s gearing up to mark its 60th anniversary. Fair enough, and many of us do indeed have memories of how it was in earlier times.    Love it or hate it, the place does have a certain “style” about it.    And there’s always more building going on – currently they’re extending one of the car parks as well as making the entrances more impressive with more work to come.

Out and about

I’m feeling much better now (although still a few little niggles), and have been having a few coffees around the place.    And getting out and about, too:  to Middle Park for lunch, and even to Chadstone!

Kerford Rd pier

Coffee at Chadstone

 

5G (2)

It seems as though “5G” is already in our area.

Just a few weeks ago, a lot of work was  done on the mobile equipment not far from us, which I suspect was an upgrade allowing for 5G.   Now we’ve received a letterbox drop offering “home 5G”.    This is the “home wireless broadband” technology.

Perhaps not co-incidentally, the cost is the same as our existing internet service via the NBN cable, but the speed would be faster.  I’m sure the telcos would like people to move over, so that they don’t incur the cost of using the NBN network. 

Generally, however, home wireless broadband doesn’t seem to offer the same value as NBN plans.    But perhaps the 5G offer we received is a sign of the way things might head in the future?   I certainly propose to monitor this technology.   However, I’m in no mood to grab the first deal that comes along, especially given that going over to 5G would involve a changeover of our equipment.