Tom Baker's Voice and Presence: How One Doctor Made Every Story Unforgettable
From Liverpool Monk to Time Lord
The Baker Era: Seven Seasons of Wonder, Horror, and Wit
Anniversary Echoes
The Enduring Legacy

Three legged PUP
Tasmanian PUP Senator Lambie says what she thinks, but does not think as often as she talks. She is calling for Remembrance Day to be used to protest a pay rise for soldiers. The federal government has negotiated a pay rise which is beneath inflation. The government warns the entire public service will similarly have beneath CPI wage rises. Lambie wants the rises to be larger. However Lambie is standing in the way of cuts to spending which would allow the government to responsibly make such changes. Lambie threatens to walk away from PUP.
AGW faith
Theatre direction and climate science combine to produce a scary fantasy devoid of all science. British theatre director Katie Mitchell collaborated with climate scientist Stephen Emmott, and found herself 'transformed' such that she stopped flying and began recycling clothes. Meanwhile the IPCC does not release new data but increases scares in the new report. Meanwhile the University of Bremen has research papers discussing gender division in climate change. Meanwhile Climate Change candidates in the US mid term elections did terribly. Professors will pay for Green faith as their superannuation buried money in loss making ventures like desalination which has not been used at all this year in Victoria.
Neighbours
Julia and Kevin who claimed in a set piece for the Fairfield Champion in front of school kids in '10 they worked together as friends were as cold as ice at Gough's funeral. Even in death Gough divides.
ABC airs a program (Soul Mates) which asks the question why no one wants to kill Abbott? The ABC has form on such tastelessness, showing a cartoon of a journalist having sex with a dog, or Mr Abbott's mother having sex with a solar panel. On each occasion the ABC has had to retract and apologise for their behaviour.
A new conservative cause has been launched, to the echo of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Firstly there was Julie Bishop's statement she was a woman, but not a feminist. Then in the mid terms in the US Tim Scott (Republican) became the first black senator (South Carolina) elected in the South since the reconstruction era. Then Mia Love became the first Black Republican woman to be elected to the house of representatives in Utah.
Obama tells Mr Abbott not to pursue Russia or China during the G20.
Huffington Post on Pew Research
"Half Of Brits Say Religion Does More Harm Than Good, And Atheists Can Be Just As Moral"
A striking example of status quo after much atheist positioning .. so that it is now worth considering the example of China. Mainland China is still a despicable government which in the '70s the leading politician, wife of deceased Mao, had a survey done during the cultural revolution. She bragged at the survey results. In all of China, not a single Christian remained and the only record of their presence historically was graves that no one visited. But God lives there too, and moving forward thirty years, Christianity is growing faster in China than anywhere else in the world. The government prefers atheists, but will hire a religious person only if they are Christian .. because Christians are loyal and Christ endorsed secular administration. But what of Mao's wife? Nothing of her exists in China, but a grave nobody visits.
Demographically, it is hard to know what the near future of Christianity will look like. African or Asian? But not so many Europeans. Part of the problem is the call of submission to God, the desire to be humble, is very little prized in Western pop culture, but underpins our cultural assets. In fact, I can do nothing to change anyone else's mind, but doing what is right, and relying on God to assert his will, is very attractive even for damaged Atheists. Atheists fear a god that doesn't exist and is a ridiculous figure. But they don't see the God the father, the almighty. Sometimes that is because his people who claim to walk with him are not humble. But the closer one gets to God, the humbler they are .. why do you suppose that is?
A historical perspective
Because of the proximity to US mid terms now, this time in history is coloured by other similar elections. In 1619, Elizabeth Stuart was crowned Queen of Bohemia. The significance of that act cannot be overstated. Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of James I of England and was the grandmother of George I of England. Bohemia was a Czech land which later became Austria-Hungary. In 1775, the Governor of Virginia started emancipating slaves so they might fight with the British. In 1837, in Illinois, an abolitionist printer was shot dead by a mob while trying to protect his print shop. In 1874, a cartoon showed for the first time an elephant used to represent the GOP (US Republican party). In 1893, Colarado gave women the right to vote. In 1916, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to US congress. In 1919, the first Palmer raid resulted in over ten thousand suspected communists in twenty three different cities being rounded up. In 1933, FH La Guardia was elected 99th mayor of NYC. In 1944, FDR was elected President for a fourth time. FDR was a despicable person who would never have achieved such success but for opportunism and Hitler. In 1957, The Gaither Report suggested the US needed more missiles and fallout shelters. In 1973, a Democrat led Congress over rode President Nixon's veto of War Powers Resolution which even today prevents Obama power to wage war without Congress assent. In 1983, someone, none yet known, set off a bomb in the US Capitol. Too late for Guy Fawkes Day. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected Governor in the US, to the seat in Virginia. Also in 1989, David Dinkins became the first African American to be elected mayor of New York City. In 1990, Mary Robinson became the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland. In 2000, Hillary Clinton became the first woman elected to the senate while still being the first lady of the President. In 2000, the Bush v Gore election was held, later to be resolved the Supreme Court. It was an echo of JFK vs Nixon in which Nixon had conceded to avoid the Supreme Court having to make that decision, weakening Presidential authority. Nixon would have won had he stuck to his guns, but he was a better man than Gore.
In 335 AD, Athanasius was banished to Trier, on charge that he prevented a grain fleet from sailing to Constantinople. However, Athanasius was cleared of the charge, but had made a powerful enemy among some who had the ear of Rome. He was exiled five times in all, yet survived until 373, dying peacefully at 77. In 1492, a meteorite struck a wheat field in the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France. In 1665, the oldest surviving Journal, The London Gazette, was first published. In 1786, the oldest musical organisation in the US, the Stoughton Musical Society, was founded. In 1900, during the second Boer war, at the Battle of Leliefontein, three Canadian Dragoons earned a Victoria Cross each. In 1907 Jesus Garcia saved an entire town of Nacozari de Garcia, Sonora, Mexico, from certain death, by driving a burning train with explosive a safe distance away, and so dying. In 1908, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid died in Bolivia, maybe. In 1910, showing they had gotten the hang of flying, the Wright brothers were commissioned by a department store owner Max Moorehouse to air freight from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio. In 1912, the Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opens in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg, with a production of Beethoven's Fidelio. In 1914, as a reminder Japan was an ally in WW1, he German colony of Kiaochow Bay and its centre at Tsingtao were captured by Japanese forces. In 1917, the Gregorian calendar date of the October Revolution, which gets its name from the Julian calendar date of 25 October. On this date in 1917, the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace. Also on this day in 1917, British forces captured Gaza from the Ottomans. In 1918, Influenza spread to Western Samoa killing 20% of the population before the new year. In 1929, the Museum of Modern Art opened in NYC. In 1941, German planes sank the hospital ship Armenia, killing about five thousand evacuated from Crimea. In 1944, Soviet spy Richard Sorge and 34 of his ring were hanged by Japan. In 1956, UN sprang into inaction demanding the withdrawal of UK, French and Israel from Egypt during the Suez Crisis. In 1987, Singapore's first mass rapid transit line was opened. In 1989, East German PM and his entire cabinet were forced to resign. In 1991, Magic Johnson announced he had HIV. In 1994, WXYC launched the first internet radio.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle...
David Daniel Ball calls himself the Conservative Voice.
I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence.
I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections.
I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. ...
While Elon Musk is busy landing reusable rockets and building robot swarms on Earth, the CCP has gone full 'Musk but make it bioweapons': they're launching fleets of Starship-inspired rockets crewed by copycat Optimus robots, blasting 'Fau Chi' biolabs straight into Low Earth Orbit.
These gleaming orbital stations, proudly emblazoned with the Chinese characters 福奇 (Fú Qí — sounding suspiciously like 'Fau Chi'), are officially designated as The Science™ Research Facilities. Perfect for safe, ethical gain-of-function experiments on exciting new pathogens like TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), 'Last Millennia' nostalgia plagues, and the deadly 'We Are Living in 2026' variant.
The endgame? A billion trusting parents worldwide voluntarily neutering their own children on expert 'Fau Chi' advice from the heavens — because nothing says 'public health' like taking guidance from a floating Chinese biolab with reusable re-entry capabilities.
Don't give up on hope. Western Civilisation is on the nose of universities in Australia. Sydney University collapsed in 1990, and her upper executive got replaced by ALP managerialists as Keating fought a culture war which the Liberal Party have not effectively engaged. Dame Kramer had been made Chancellor, but the Chancellor's position is not executive at Sydney University. Kramer fought effectively for Western Values, but the University, now, is as partisan left as the ABC is now. Kramer had been a powerful presence in charge of the ABC too.
In 1990, Sydney University lost her Chancellor and Vice Chancellor. The Chancellor, Hermann David Black, died after a long illness. James Anthony Rowland, a former governor of NSW took the chancellor's position for a few years, before passing it to Kramer in 1991. She held on to 2001. From 1981 to 1990, John Manning Ward was the executive head of Sydney University as Vice Chancellor. He had been writing a trilogy on Australian conservative leaders ...

Salt: The Unsung Architect of Human Destiny
Throughout the grand narrative of mankind, countless forces have sculpted who we are—writing that captured thought, the wheel that conquered distance, gunpowder that redrew empires, and the relentless grind of weather, migration, and invention. From our emergence from water to land, the climb into trees and descent to grasslands, survival in arctic wastes and rugged mountains, to the patient arts of farming, mining, and tool-making, humanity’s story is one of adaptation. Yet amid these “fathers” of civilization, one humble mineral stands as a quiet revolutionary: salt.
Salt has coursed through our veins and history since the dawn of humanity. Early man, scavenging and hunting, drew sodium from meat and natural sources. In Southeast Africa, the robust jaws of “Nutcracker Man” (Paranthropus boisei) speak to diets forged in tough environments—perhaps even hinting at a drive toward salty shores or crustacean-rich waters. Could this craving have sparked early tool use, as hominins cracked shells and foraged along coasts? Over a million years of dietary evolution, salt wasn’t mere seasoning; it was survival fuel, shaping physiology and behavior long before recorded time.
The real transformation came with settlement. As hunter-gatherers turned to agriculture, plant-heavy diets demanded supplementation. Salt stepped forward not just for flavor but as the preserver that tamed spoilage, enabled trade, and sustained growing populations. Some 5,000–7,000 years ago in Europe, prehistoric ingenuity birthed dedicated salt towns. At sites like Poiana Slatinei-Lunca in Romania (as early as ~6050 BCE) and Solnitsata in Bulgaria (~5500–4200 BCE), communities boiled brine from salt springs in pottery, producing this vital commodity on an industrial scale for the time. These were among the earliest urban centers, walled to protect their “white gold,” driving economy, trade, and social organization.
From there, salt’s influence exploded. It preserved fish and meat for Egyptian pharaohs and Roman legions. It funded empires through taxes and monopolies. Roman soldiers received salarium—salt money—giving us the very word “salary.” Salt roads crisscrossed continents, much like the wheel expanded mobility. In China, detailed records of salt production date back millennia; in the Americas and beyond, it underpinned rituals, medicine, and cuisine. Without reliable salt, long voyages, armies on campaign, and stored winter provisions would have faltered. Gunpowder may have conquered battlefields, but salt quietly conquered hunger and scarcity.
Even today, salt binds us to this ancient legacy. It flavors our tables, preserves our food, and powers industries, while debates rage over its health effects in modern abundance. We’ve come far from boiling brine in Neolithic pots or scavenging coastal resources, yet the mineral remains essential—linking our evolutionary past to our global present.
Salt didn’t invent the wheel or pen the first script, but it made those achievements sustainable. It turned fragile surpluses into enduring civilizations. In the pantheon of forces that explain why people are the way we are—resilient, interconnected, inventive—salt deserves its place among the great fathers of mankind. From the African savannas to European saltworks and beyond, it has seasoned not just our food, but the entire human journey. Until today, and into whatever future we boil, mine, or trade next.
What a crystalline thread running through it all.

