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The way our young folk use texting and facebook (sorry, sms f ) makes me wonder what future generations will be teaching as 'English'.

At school I had to learn sentence construction and punctuation as though they had always been universal truths from which there could be no variation. Study texts then still reflected Victorian influences where people had time for leisurely reading and writing. Novels were gargantuan, as were some of the letters we posted to each other (my aunt never wrote less than a weekly ten page letter to her sister).

Today, our hectic lifestyle has reduced our writing to sms and f shorthand. As technology becomes more sophisticated, will our writing become so compressed that it will disappear altogether, and will all our records be stored as voicemail?

If it does, then our civilization will have turned full circle, and will have no need for a written language - as had our land's indigenous inhabitants before the Victorians arrived.

One of the benefits of e-books must surely be the popularization of the Gutenberg Project, begun in 1971 where out-of-copyright texts are converted into electronic storage format for free download by anyone in the world.

So why the name 'Gutenberg'?

Google tells me that 'the Gutenberg press with its wooden and later metal movable type printing brought down the price of printed materials and made such materials available for the masses. It remained the standard until the 20th century. The Gutenberg printing press developed from the technology of the screw-type wine presses of the Rhine Valley. It was there in 1440 that Johannes Gutenberg created his printing press, a hand press, in which ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of moveable hand-set block letters held within a wooden form and the form was then pressed against a sheet of paper.'

So are we to see a re-emergence of our literary classics into the popular forum? It is interesting to note that Penguin books are currently republishing many such classics for less than $10 per edition, but why pay even this paltry sum when you can download them for nothing.

I recently read "Tom Sawyer" for the first time in 50 years as a free download, whereas I may have balked at buying the book in a shop. But having read one, my thirst for the classics has been aroused to the extent that I just may buy my next classic as a p-book (paper book). I still prefer the feel of the paper.

Last night I attended a discussion between author Matthew Condon and Stuart Glover about Matt's latest book 'Brisbane'. Matt made some interesting points about us Brisbanites:

Is there a 'Brisbane DNA' that has been handed down through the generations since our convict days? Do we have an apologetic attitude towards those in authority?

Certainly there is a chasm between the Government and the people. Getting close is not easy.

Matt cited the recent decision to bulldoze the Regent Theatre. There was little opposition. In the Bjelke-Petersen era, Brisbanites' tolerance was pushed to the limit when we marched for the right to march. Remember the Bellevue Hotel and Cloudland demolitions? These were two historic icons gone overnight without consultation.

Brisbane's tramway system was another icon that was removed at the decision of a single person. It may have been 'for our own good' - our roads were too narrow (and this goes back to our convict heritage when the NSW Government cut back on our original settlement's street width for economic reasons) - but once again the people were not consulted.

Do we care now?

Perhaps we need our tolerance pushed to the limit again.

So what's with our fascination with blood, murder, rape, and pillage? The ancient Vikings have a lot to answer for. What morbid fascination compels us to avidly devour all things gristly?

Our passion is certainly big business. The media thrives on it, like vampires. Authors thrive, too. Fellow author, Jack Sim, earns his living from crime writings, ghost stories, and tours of haunted and other fearsome places. He even has his own weekly crime radio show (Jack Sim presents Murder Trails - True Crime Stories on 4BC).

I attended his recent book signing at Victoria Point Library. It was packed with 150 admirers of all ages. His secret? Jack tells a good story. Slowly, deliberately he urges his audience to set their imaginations to work. The Viking in each of us fills in the gaps.

To learn more, visit Jack's webpage at www.murdertrails.com.au

I think I have found an answer to that ghastly sound made by a leaf blower (see my earlier blog 'Blowing in the Wind'). It sounds just like a tree lopper and I can use it indoors in the comfort of my own home - the paper shredder!

But they are the most temperamental things! So much so, that I could coin a new saying viz. as temperamental as a shredder. For if I put more than 5 sheets of paper in at once, it just jams up and refuses to work. Of course my wife scolds me with: 'You will buy the cheapest model'. I think it should have come with its own pair of tweezers to help with the unblocking. I had to borrow her eyebrow tweezers for the job; managed to bend them a bit in the process; I must watch her closely to see if she bushes up, John Howard style.

Well, back to the shredding, for it's tax time and I have to make room for this year's receipts. Now was it five or seven years that I had to keep the old ones? Should I keep the shredded archives just in case the tax man wants to check up on my past?

My shredder just sits there amongst its mess of paper spaghetti on the floor. It has a wicked grin.