Although we love the idea of choice - our culture almost worships it - we seek refuge in the familiar and the comfortable.

The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?

Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.

I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.

Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.

The thing we need most is each other.

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

It's Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it's human to do them.

One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

Lucy settled into August's kitchen as if they were a family.

Love to live and live to love.

Inspire them to want so much more than what's normal.

A democracy of mean and ignorant people is just as scary as any other horrible form of government.

Hotter than me? --Jace

Forgiveness releases you from a past that no longer defines you. Allow yourself to move on.

Memory, I realize, can be an unreliable thing; often it is heavily coloured by the circumstances in which one remembers.

In my opinion, sexiness comes down to three things: chemistry, sense of humor, and treatment of waitstaff at restaurants.

Here is the basic question: Are we marionettes, or are we creatures of free will who just happen to have a lot of jerky reflexes?

You fight and fight. Get every ball back, run every ball down and never, ever doubt.