Ross Krippner of Bangalow shares a reflection on AI supercomputers through the lens of a Fredric Brown short story from 1954, in which a connected galactic network chillingly responds to the question 'Is there a God?' with the answer 'There is now.' Paul Taylor of Winston Hills offers a self-deprecating account of using AI to investigate his own lack of publication success in the column, calling the experience a sobering confirmation of one's place in the true order of things.
Don White of Frenchs Forest recounts an encounter with Marlon Brando at LAX in the early 1970s. Brando, fumbling for change to use a payphone, borrowed a dime from Mr. White with a promise to repay it, politely declining autograph requests from others while never returning the coin.
George Manojlovic of Mangerton observes a string of anagrammatic coincidences in the column's recent pages, linking 'Put Berlin', 'Marie Tim', the phrase 'underground mutton' and the bunya pine to the anagram 'a bunny pie'.
Jo Rainbow of Orange inquires whether classical music, specifically Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, can deter bogong moths, following the column's tradition of suggesting music as a deterrent for unwanted animals like fruit bats and mating frogs.