Showing 1 - 10 of 17
The midlife crisis
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 09/03/2018
» What newlyweds with stars in their eyes aren't told by their elders is that there will be speed bumps in the marriage. One of the more common is the so-called seven-year-itch. The figure is approximate and refers to either or both parties being irresistibly drawn to others several years into a relationship. Usually he or she does nothing about -- but if they do, they take lovers.
Double-whammy master
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/02/2018
» By using fire for cooking, Homo sapiens took a step higher on the food chain. It made eating mammoths easier on the digestion. The press was another step. Print replaced cave drawings, clay pressings, stone carvings, papyrus. Books were cloth- or leather-bound.
The 18-year itch
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/12/2017
» Contrary to poems and films, love isn't the only reason for marriage. Nor is it the strongest. Arranged marriage takes precedence. So does making the girl pregnant and doing the right thing. Indeed there's a list of reasons, not least lust -- the sap running in both the male and female.
One of a kind
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 03/11/2017
» In the US, and many other lands, justice is in the hands of the police and the courts. The citizenry must abide by their decision. But this overlooks the fact that vengeance is a human instinct.
Pulling it all together
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/07/2017
» What I learned from years of backpacking is that there's no single pattern of development. Every country I've been to has had its unique history, which is why the prospect of globalisation is incongruous and why mother countries couldn't hold on to their colonies.
Women aren't dumb
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 16/12/2016
» Men have the notion that women aren't as bright as they are -- it's in the genes or something, can't be helped -- and that they are the easier to fool. When they find out this isn't so, the swindlers blame themselves for not having tried harder. Whether females are more astute than males is another question.
The Cold War: Phase 2
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 18/04/2016
» The implosion of the Soviet empire was greeted with a sigh of relief in democracies by all but the cloak-and-dagger novelists. Who would replace the Soviet Union as the common enemy? To be sure, terrorists are sinister, but they lack the cohesiveness that was a mark of the KGB.
For violence fans
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/02/2016
» It was one thing for Special Air Service soldier Andy McNab to win a medal for bravery during the Gulf War, quite another for him to turn thriller author and create a Joe Combat literary hero who can't resist participating in every global conflict.
The cook did it
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 12/10/2015
» Men perform more major crimes than women, but women are catching up. Calling females the weaker sex is an outmoded term. In novels and films, the butler didn't do it, but the cook did. Motives are much the same: lust, greed revenge, ambition or self-defence.
Show me the motive
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 24/08/2015
» Motives for acts of violence range from crimes of passion to drive-by shootings -- that is from defending family honour to reducing the food chain indiscriminately. They aren't justifiable under law and are equally penalised. There are a myriad of motives, often the perpetrator unable to explain what made him or her do it ("maybe I drank too much").