Since my undergraduate days, I've been interested in history, especially Byzantine Constantinople. I very much enjoy the works of Viscount Norwich, and would travel to Venice or Istanbul any time.

When time permits, I've played Sid Meier's Civilization, now at Version VI, though not to the extent of eclipsing M.U.L.E. - surely the finest multi-player strategy game ever. There's a nice story about it at Salon.com.

I enjoy cricket, and can't imagine why anyone would think a drawn test is boring. Musically, I abandoned pretensions of taste with an interest in Triple J, and from thence a slippery slope to TISM. However, I do like some modern esoterica, such as Florence + the Machine, Rachid Taha and Garbage. The radio is generally tuned to DoubleJ, TripleJ or Harvey Community Radio 96.5 FM.

I'm vastly amused by Dave Barry, Calvin and Hobbes and Doonesbury . I've been enjoying Dilbert, Zits and Alex more so now that I know they're documentaries. I'm an admirer of the late Idries Shah and the poetry of Rumi. I've enjoyed the paintings of the late Mati Klarwein, Edward Burne-Jones, and Salvador Dali.

I read several columnists - Maureen Dowd, Mary Beard and Gail Collins.

There's always a good read in the Boing Boing blog, or The Loon Pond.