From spark plugs to blockchains – decoding the energy behind the future - It’s not about money. It’s about electricity — and who gets left in the dark.
What are AI and Bitcoin really telling us about power, survival, and the future of wealth?
For those of us who grew up with rotary phones, spark plugs, and a sturdy sense of value, the idea of “digital money” and AI thinking for itself sounds like a cartoon.
But look deeper — and you’ll see it’s not just about currency.
It’s about current.
Read more: Electricity Is the New Gold — And Crypto Just Blew the Whistle
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Investigative Laundrologist
Dusty Gulch, 2025 – In a world where truth is hung out to dry and speech is tumble-dried into compliance, the Dusty Gulch branch of the Country Women’s Association has had enough. Armed with pegs, petticoats, and an encrypted washboard, they’ve launched a daring resistance movement - one laundry tip at a time.
Leading the charge is none other than Dorothy “Dot” Snellgrove, president of the Dusty Gulch CWA and former codebreaker for the local Bingo Association. “If you can’t say it outright,” she says, “embroider it on a tea towel.”
Dusty Gulch Tavern regular until he was caught with an air trumpet in his left boot, Benedict “Bruiser” Arnold (local roo shooter and enemy of Mayor Dusty McFookit ) claims he was only “documenting local sock sorting techniques for the Pentagon and helping out with hearing aids.” CWA sources allege he was attempting to livestream Doris McLintock’s sheet folding strategy. Local Cop Bushie McBush said investigations were ongoing and local emus were helping with enquiries.
Read more: “Whiter Than White Lies: CWA Ladies Take a Stand ”
They say history repeats. But sometimes, it just whispers.
In an age where speech is filtered, flagged, and fact-checked into oblivion, it’s tempting to believe that coded language and satire are inventions of the digital era - tools for cheeky rebels with clever usernames. But those tools are old. Very old.
So old, in fact, that George Washington used them.
Before America had a constitution, it had a codebook. And when words were dangerous, the wise didn’t shout - they signaled.
Let’s set the scene: 1778. New York is crawling with British troops, spies, and snitches. The city is a redcoat stronghold, and every letter, tavern whisper, and knock at the door could bring trouble.
In steps George Washington, not just general, but the architect of America’s first covert intelligence network, the Culper Ring.
Read more: Before America had a constitution, it had a codebook.
When I tell people I’m a beek, inevitably the first thing they say is, “Yes, we need to save the bees! They’re very important!”. While totally true, it is a noble statement that I cannot claim. I was dragged into beekeeping, kicking and screaming… well almost.
When people say, “We need to save the bees,” they usually imagine someone passionate, fearless, and purpose-driven in a white veil suit.
That wasn’t me. I didn’t plan to become a beekeeper—in fact, I was dragged into it by necessity, not nature.
What began as a practical solution to a tax issue soon turned into something much more: a lesson in courage, humility, and the quiet brilliance of life inside the hive.
Read more: Bee Brave, Bee Calm, Bee Thankful: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper
When we look back at history, we often speak of "the old wise men" who shaped nations, led armies, or wrote the words that defined generations. But dig deeper, and you'll find something remarkable: many of those wise men weren't old at all.
Because wisdom, it turns out, doesn’t wear a watch.
It doesn’t follow birthdays or wait for retirement.
It comes to those willing to seek it, to shoulder its burden, and to speak its truth.... even if their voice shakes, or cracks, or hasn’t broken yet.
Wisdom isn’t born with age: it’s forged through experience, reflection, conviction, and humility. And passion.
Read more: Wisdom Doesn’t Wear a Watch - and It Doesn’t Come with a Birth Certificate
When dreams turn to infrastructure, who controls the future above us?
In 1957, a lonely beep from space sparked a boy’s dream to build rockets and reach for the stars.
Today, the sky above us is buzzing with thousands of satellites - mostly owned by private companies, controlled by a handful of powerful players, and watched over by governments that now depend on them more than ever.
But what does it mean when the line between public power and private control blurs?
Who really owns the sky - and what happens when that control slips beyond the hands of elected leaders?
Read more: From Sputnik to Starlink — The Sky’s Not the Limit — It’s the Battleground
Without a genuine love for our forbears, how can we truly love - or even live - our lives today? I asked that question about a year ago, and that question has stayed with me. And it’s what prompted this reflection.
We must return to honouring everything we have earned and learned and teaching our young to learn from the past in order to build a future worth living in.
I began writing this to honour our war dead. I thought I was writing about cemeteries. But somewhere along the way, I realised I wasn’t writing about death at all...I was writing about neglect. Not of the past, but of the present. Not of sacrifice, but of silence.
Because in Australia today, it seems death is the only guarantee of honour. A soldier can serve, suffer, and survive, and be forgotten. A citizen can contribute a lifetime of work, and be priced out of their own home. A community can build and endure, and be buried under red tape.
But die in uniform? We’ll build a monument. We’ll send flowers. We’ll clean the stone every year without fail.
So I ask you: When did honour become posthumous? When did life become less worthy than death? And is the True Blue Australia we once knew - quietly proud, fiercely fair - already lying in a forgotten grave?
They didn’t storm the gates. They waited.
While revolutionaries burned flags and shouted in the streets, the Fabians took tea in drawing rooms and quietly rewrote the future.
Their strategy was never chaos, but patience - the slow march through institutions.
Today, as yet another Western leader swears allegiance to their vision, we might ask: how much of our modern world was designed not by accident, nor democracy, but by deliberate, gradual engineering?
And what remains of the civilisation they sought to replace?
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Chief Correspondent, Fence-Sitter, and Eyewitness to History
When the world teetered on the brink of disaster, and diplomacy floundered in the hands of Mr Magoo and Plenty Wrong, it wasn't Canberra, NATO, or the United Nations that answered the call. It was ducks.
Operating under the banner of Ratty News, Duck Intelligence launched the most bizarre and effective peacekeeping mission in modern times.
In what is being hailed as “the most coordinated bathroom-based airstrike in military history,”
Ratty News can now confirm the details of a daring mission carried out by cybernetic ducks, an orange-painted B-2 stealth bomber, and a Trojan Duck disguised as a halal-questionable pizza.
All of it launched from a humble hangar just down the red dirt road from Pine Gap.
Read more: Rat Cunning and the Trojan Duck: The Strike that Flushed a Regime
I lost my cat a few years ago. She wasn’t just a pet. She was my sounding board. My companion. My silent ally. For twelve years, she listened without ever interrupting, rolled on her tummy without judgment, and knew when to stay and when to stay closer. When she passed, something went quiet in me too.
This morning, my Mum - 93 and still sharp as a splinter - said something that stopped me.
"Maybe that’s why people love their cats and dogs," she said. "Because they don’t talk back. They don’t betray."
And that was it. The start of something I didn’t know I was writing: not an article about AI, or censorship, or ducks in disguise (though there were ducks) ... but about connection. About trust. About what we used to give our children, and what we no longer do.
Read more: Teddy and Tabby, Not Tablet: What has been forgotten for today's kids
Once we debated. Now, " they" accuse.
And who are they? Talk about diversity. They come in all colours, all causes, and all hashtags. Some scream for justice, others for tradition. Some are young, loud, and online. Others are older, bitter, and wield bureaucratic power. What unites them isn’t belief - it’s certainty, and the weaponisation of offence. No debate required. Just accusation, echo, and cancellation.
From playgrounds to parliaments, the art of debate is being replaced by hashtags, headlines, and hostile mobs.
What began as dialogue has hardened into dogma - and truth, once pursued through reasoned argument, now risks exile in favour of certainty without substance.
In this reflection, I ask:
What have we lost?
And what must we regain before the noise becomes all we know? Today, disagreement ends not in understanding but in accusation.
Read more: Has Zealotry Destroyed Debate? Shouting in the Ruins: The Decline of Public Reason
Between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, more than a hundred thousand British children were…
158 hits
The Battle of Britain ended on 15th September, 1940 but the Blitz continued long after that. Following…
240 hits
In an age of glowing screens and fleeting texts, something precious has quietly slipped away:…
272 hits
As young folk, didn't some of us feel like rebels without a cause? I am…
297 hits
As our countries are collapsing under the weight of wokeism, social and communist ideology, who…
384 hits
Crack Up or Crack Apart When the world gets grim, you’ve only got two choices:…
393 hits
Dusty Gulch Dispatch: The Croc Cavalry & the Great Duckening By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Special…
442 hits
The Warning of Gareth Jones: Who Owns Our Land, Our Water, Our Future? When we…
418 hits
"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice,…
416 hits
As a teacher seasoned by years of studying history and upholding the integrity of language,…
545 hits
“The stupidity of democracy. It will always remain as one of democracy’s best jokes that…
477 hits
It was 19 years ago on the 4th of September 2006 that Steve Irwin rolled…
579 hits
Why Even a My Little Pony Rifle Makes More Sense than Gun Bans We have…
547 hits
Dusty Gulch Dispatch: The Great Literary Rebellion By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Special Correspondent (still in…
534 hits
I was 12 years old when "The Prisoner " came out. Sometimes, I would sneak…
568 hits
Ordinary people following rules - without questioning right from wrong - can enable harm. History…
519 hits
On September 3rd, Australia marks National Flag Day - a day that should fill us…
620 hits
Australia was never built on timidity. It was carved out by men and women who…
706 hits
It is hard to believe that twenty-eight years have passed since the world lost Diana,…
654 hits
Few figures divide Australians as sharply as Ned Kelly. To some, he is a larrikin…
808 hits
Paddy’s Golden Mischief: A Rat’s-Eye View of Dusty Gulch By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Chief Correspondent…
578 hits
We are told it’s all under control. Markets are managed, energy transitions are planned, and…
600 hits
In the shadow of a shattered empire, the Weimar Republic rose in 1919, promising democracy,…
646 hits
“Some of us may forget that, of all the Allies, it was the Australians who…
768 hits
When 5 Ducks Take on Snakes, Dusty Gulch Prepares for Bloodshed By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble,…
640 hits
" Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it…
677 hits
In early 1951, New Zealand’s waterfronts weren’t just bustling ports - they had become battlegrounds.…
748 hits
Ratty News Special: “From Gondwana to Dusty Gulch: The Ostrich Problem” By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble,…
682 hits
During World War II, Australia was a vital cog in the Allied machine, sending troops…
787 hits
Of all the magnificent units and regiments of the Australian Army I doubt if…
717 hits
The Emu War is one of Australia’s strangest historical events. In late 1932, the government…
652 hits
For nearly a decade, I’ve poured my soul into this blog. Twelve hours a day,…
614 hits