Veronika Wild

AI generated image  It’s well and truly winter here. There’s snow to 800 metres today, so I thought I’d just settle down with some hot chocolate and tell you about some movies I’ve seen lately and finish my overdue library books. There has been a lot of controversy about Social Media in Australia and talk of banning it for under 16s .  The USA wants to ban TikTok unless it comes under US ownership and AI is under fire on a number of counts, most recently because it has been used both in Australia and the US to generate nudes from images of schoolgirls. We’ll dive into some of those issues and what other countries are doing shortly. The three stories below are examples of misuse of social media which should serve as a warning. All are based on real life events and I applaud the women who have been brave enough to come forward and tell their stories. Unfortunately, these are all on Netflix but next time I will include some docos which are on YouTube and which should be read...

-Image is by Wildlife Photographer, David Cook The Eastern Rosella ( Platycercus eximus) is one of Australia's best known birds thanks to it's appearance on well known products such as Rosella Tomato Sauce, the traditional accompaniment to the Aussie meat pie and Arnott's Biscuits, including our ever popular TimTams Humans   have been in love with exotic parrots since the early explorers started bringing them home from the New World in the C16th. They love their bright colours, their sociability, their ability to be domesticated and the fact that many can imitate and even understand human speech.  Since then we’ve also found out that parrots are hugely intelligent and properly cared for, they can also be very long –lived -up to 60 years for larger parrots and 12 years for small ones like budgerigars. Parrots (Psittaciformes) are an ancient species believed to have evolved in Gondwana - the great South Land, 59 million years ago when all the continents were still join...

Glimpses of Bruny Island, shortly after take -off The Adventure Begins... Things didn’t look all that promising on Mother’s Day. It dawned grey and drizzly and it was 6 0 C as I made my way to Cambridge Airport. Next I was squished into a tiny six -seater Cessna that didn’t stand much taller than I did. There were three other passengers, all Tasmanians - all female and former hockey players, plus Michael the pilot and Mick the guide, who was also the chief cook, ship’s captain and sommelier. The seat was a bit small and my knees were uncomfortably jammed up against the seat in front, but as we headed South the clouds parted and there were splendid glimpses of South Arm, Bruny Island – who knew it was so big, the Channel and beyond, until at last we turned right at Clayton's Corner, at the very bottom of Tasmania. I’d come this far on foot via the South Cape Track, but beyond that all was a mystery.   There is something very personal about flying like this and while exciting f...