Yes! I have now successfully changed my password. Thanks mk.

mk Checking my spam folder was the first thing I did (I recalled that Google had been causing trouble). Nothing there, I'm afraid.

The "recover password" option on Hubski appears to be broken. I enter my email address when prompted, but the email from Hubski to reset never arrives. Is this a gmail issue?

The "recover password" option on Hubski appears to be broken. I enter my email address when prompted, but the email from Hubski to reset never arrives. Is this a gmail issue?

>In the end, people who want to be told what to believe have been told what to believe and now they're telling everyone else what to believe.

I might have to use this in future conversations and pretend that I came up with it myself.

My blood pressure increased ~30 per cent reading this, so it has achieved its intended aim.

LA is actually four or five times larger than Melbourne (18.8 million). I suspect you're referring only to its inner city population, which is ~4 million. We count our urban population differently in Australia than the US does.

If we take the number of pedestrian fatalities in greater Melbourne over five years (274/2=137, say) and multiply by 4, to bring it into proportion to greater LA, you get a figure (548) that is actually higher than LA...

Those are spectacular photos of what looks like an amazing time.

I love Namibia's history. A place I've read a hell of a lot about given that I've never set foot there.

- Did you make it to Luderitz?

- Were you travelling under your own steam, or were you with an organised tour? If the former, was it easy enough to hire a car?

Try being at a union party. There were grown men in tears. Yeah, the sausage thing has really become a feature in the past decade or so. Overall, voting venues are more and more resembling small fairs, which I'm loving. Clifton Hill Primary School was offering democracy daiquiris during the state election last year. I fully support compulsory voting, but watching pensioners down cocktails at 10 in the morning is its own reward.

Federal Election in Australia last Saturday. Since voting is compulsory (sorta), everybody turns out, has a sausage and then goes to the pub. It almost feels like a public holiday. This one was particularly portentous because the conservative government of the past three years has been bloody awful and there was widespread expectation that the progressive Labor Party would walk it in. Instead, an electoral car crash ensued and we woke up on Sunday stuck with the government unchanged. A lot of people are deeply disappointed.

I wrote a research paper on the Sperrgebiet years ago when I worked for an independent think tank. That area has an amazing history. How was Kolmanskop? I'd love to see some photos.

Visitors to the Monthly get access to one free article per month (per browser and per device, obviously). This one is worth reading.