As the wooing of the independent MP's by the ALP and the Coalition to form a government continues, and as the independents work the scen...

Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, ...

There are various translations and recordings of the last words of the Buddha: "All composite things pass away. Strive for your own l...

(Click to enlarge) The above advertisement dates from 1885 when many strange ingredients, at least to our thinking in 2010, were icluded in...

"I am not young enough to know everything." - J M Barrie (1860-1937)

The Daily Telegraph reports that Kylie Minogue was censoted by Facebook for a pic posted by a fan.  The photo shows Kylie with microphone in...

An opening riff that is one of the best known in rock, a guaranteed foot tapper and rock classic from the Stones, ranked No 490 on Rolling...

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." -  Lao-Tzu (c 600 BCE) ...

(Click on photograph to enlarge). On 24 August, 1867 eight year old Fanny Adams was murdered by Frederick Baker, a 24 year old solicitor’s...

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." -  Sir Richard Steele  (1672 - 1729)

One of the problems with doing this site is that when you see something of interest in some way, you want to look up origins or find out m...

I previously posted some photographs of the works of Dalton Getty, aka Dalton Ghetti, who carves pencil leads.  Some of his works take 2 yea...

This message is just so wrong... (Click on ad to enlarge).

Byter Leo sent me a video which is a reality feel-good clip.  It looks to be a few years old but it counts as new if you haven't seen ...

A story in the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Mohamd Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. the exclusive department store in Knightsbri...

   “Voters quickly forget what a man says.” -  Richard M Nixon (1913 - 1994)

The Scream: In 1951 Gary Cooper made a movie called Distant Drums. The movie is set in the 1840’s during the Indian wars and concerns an ar...

"There'll be two dates on your tombstone. And all your friends will read 'em. But all that's gonna matter is that little d...

It always comes as something of a surprise when my body signals that I am no longer a young bull. Mentally I still feel fit and alert but ...

"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da V...

Lord Henry lived alone in his manor with his faithful manservant, James. His lordship had a regular daily routine which included James as...

“Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they’...

I had been looking up something for the current  Bytes posting when I came across the history of the phrase "to call a spade a spade....

"The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it." -  Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1...

“Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose.” - Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) Words to her executioner when she accidentally stepped on...

(Click on pic to enlarge).

In 1835, the Irish Roman Catholic leader Daniel O'Connell attacked Benjamin Disraeli during a by election, referring to Disraeli as th...

Life rafts in Australian Air Force planes now come equipped with a deck of cards.  If a pilot is forced to eject over the ocean and the GPS ...

Dulwich Hill, c 1900 - Marrickville Road, viewed from New canterbury Road. (Click on photograph to enlarge). Dulwich Hill was named after ...

For those who may have been wondering where the Saturday morning Bytes had gone, my internet service was down and hence transmission wasn...