The blog
This blog started with a fairly political focus on Australian federal, local, and world issues – because shouting at the news on TV doesn't seem to work, and who bothers with letters to the editor any more? Over time, the blog has morphed into a more general way of sharing some of the many things going on in our world, with a strong emphasis on science and space. And a blog is a great way of storing interesting items so you can find them later kind of like a diary that you can share.
There was a period where the blog fell into a hole when I lost the login details, resolved in the second half of 2011. With improving connections between it and social media, blog visitor numbers went up a lot in late 2011.
Things fell down again in 2015–2022 as personal life was going through considerable upheaval. Initially I was living in Hervey Bay, with woeful internet. I think I spent more time on the phone with Telstra support than I spent actually online! Also, I wanted to convert the blog from Google's Blogger to Wordpress, and stopped generating new content in the meantime. It ended up being a major job to try get broken links restored and rebuilt and just hasn't happened (yet?).
So I've been relying on Facebook for a long time. But FB's automated systems are seriously increasing the risk of having an account summarily terminated, leaving you with nothing. So it's time to reinvigorate the blog, placing content here in the first instance rather than straight to social media.
This blog started with a fairly political focus on Australian federal, local, and world issues – because shouting at the news on TV doesn't seem to work, and who bothers with letters to the editor any more? Over time, the blog has morphed into a more general way of sharing some of the many things going on in our world, with a strong emphasis on science and space. And a blog is a great way of storing interesting items so you can find them later kind of like a diary that you can share.
There was a period where the blog fell into a hole when I lost the login details, resolved in the second half of 2011. With improving connections between it and social media, blog visitor numbers went up a lot in late 2011.
Things fell down again in 2015–2022 as personal life was going through considerable upheaval. Initially I was living in Hervey Bay, with woeful internet. I think I spent more time on the phone with Telstra support than I spent actually online! Also, I wanted to convert the blog from Google's Blogger to Wordpress, and stopped generating new content in the meantime. It ended up being a major job to try get broken links restored and rebuilt and just hasn't happened (yet?).
So I've been relying on Facebook for a long time. But FB's automated systems are seriously increasing the risk of having an account summarily terminated, leaving you with nothing. So it's time to reinvigorate the blog, placing content here in the first instance rather than straight to social media.
POSSE – Post Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.
Your comments on posts are always most welcome. Feedback is fuel for the blogger!
Ashley Kerlin
I currently live on a tiny island east of Brisbane, Queensland, with my cat Maggie.
Your comments on posts are always most welcome. Feedback is fuel for the blogger!
Ashley Kerlin
I currently live on a tiny island east of Brisbane, Queensland, with my cat Maggie.
I have two children not living with me. Jaxom was named for Anne McCaffrey's White Dragon rider and Ainsley for Ainsley Hayes – the quirky and spirited White House Associate Counsel in 'The West Wing' – my all-time favourite TV series.)
In Canberra, I lived in a sustainable design award-winning 6-star passive solar home that I designed, with just a simple off-the-shelf design program and a mountain of product and design research over a couple of years. It wasn't a beach house, although I designed it to look a bit like one – drawing on the Sunshine Coast beach/bush house architectural vernacular that I love so much. And taking advice from the 'Hitchhiker's Guide' oracle, it did overlook a boundary condition – the nature reserves straddling the ACT/NSW border.
If you simply can't get enough of my ramblings and rantings, you can also find me on all the social media networks: subscribe to the public posts on my Facebook page, or very very rarely my tweets on Twitter, and more often on Linked-In.
Background-wise, I spent four years as the president of the Gungahlin Community Council, a group of community volunteers working towards making our district within the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra a better place to live in. In October 2010, I stepped down from this role, but continued to work for the Gungahlin community as GCC's spokesman for planning, transport and environment issues until February 2012. I built and managed GCC's rapidly growing Facebook community forum up until early 2012. I stood unsuccessfully for the Greens as a candidate for the electorate of Molonglo in the ACT election in October 2012. I spent a similar amount of time working as a volunteer guide at the NASA Tracking Station west of Canberra.
In Canberra, I lived in a sustainable design award-winning 6-star passive solar home that I designed, with just a simple off-the-shelf design program and a mountain of product and design research over a couple of years. It wasn't a beach house, although I designed it to look a bit like one – drawing on the Sunshine Coast beach/bush house architectural vernacular that I love so much. And taking advice from the 'Hitchhiker's Guide' oracle, it did overlook a boundary condition – the nature reserves straddling the ACT/NSW border.
If you simply can't get enough of my ramblings and rantings, you can also find me on all the social media networks: subscribe to the public posts on my Facebook page, or very very rarely my tweets on Twitter, and more often on Linked-In.
Background-wise, I spent four years as the president of the Gungahlin Community Council, a group of community volunteers working towards making our district within the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra a better place to live in. In October 2010, I stepped down from this role, but continued to work for the Gungahlin community as GCC's spokesman for planning, transport and environment issues until February 2012. I built and managed GCC's rapidly growing Facebook community forum up until early 2012. I stood unsuccessfully for the Greens as a candidate for the electorate of Molonglo in the ACT election in October 2012. I spent a similar amount of time working as a volunteer guide at the NASA Tracking Station west of Canberra.
Of course, day jobs annoyingly get in the way of all these more
valued past-times – working in several different government jobs. In the
cracks, I'm learning to sing and I perform with a contemporary choir.
In previous lives, I've been (among other things) an elected Councillor
for Maroochy Council in Queensland, managed a great Landcare Group in
Holbrook NSW, established and owned a successful computer retail
business, and worked in Brisbane City Council's greenhouse team.
Born in Brisbane, my childhood years were split between Canberra, Sydney
and the Sunshine Coast – the place I call my 'home', even though I'll
probably never live there again.
All views expressed on this blog, and in my social media profiles
connected or not to this blog, are my personal views only, and do not in
any way reflect the views or policies of any employer.