@jv it's worth a good skim, some of it's a little dry. some very interesting stuff though about how human populations dispersed and why they developed at such different rates.

@jv do you keep an online reading list? asking for a friend

@yorrike yep i saw a few dads out teaching their kids road biking rules. it was good.

@jv never heard of her or her book. thanks for linking to this.

@JohnPhilpin @kaa yep you can point the finger at individual politicians but i'm more concerned at what looks like systemic unpreparedness in almost every nation's response.

@kaa good piece.

another thing i'd like to see come out of this is that govts get properly prepared for the next one, and actually have a plan instead of seeming to just make it all up as they go along.

@duckrowing that whole financial crisis and the bailouts that followed was a low point of democracy and capitalism. shameful indeed.

@twweaver @kaa i'm intrigued - i've never heard of uzumaki and the only comics i read are modesty blaise. i like japanese stories though, and i like horror, so might have to give it a go...

@adders one of my favourite things is a shopping list my eldest boy wrote by hand when he was four. i laminated it and kept it :)

@jv great quote. i have his gulag book lined up for a read.

@adders toilet paper panic disorder is what people get from not having enough facts in their diets.

@muncman i too say jif.. but what about seeing also "gift" :)

english is indeed a funny thing.

@Stevsmit the ken burns doco "prohibition" on netflix is well worth a watch if you haven't seen it

@Miraz nice. think i'll go there sometime.

are there any pā settlement remains on the island?