Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
You know what narks me? It’s the argument that we have to build lots more roads because people have to drive so that they have personal mobility. It’s an argument from the road lobby that is basically saying wherever you go, you have to be able to take your car. And it gets traction because ... [More]
I used to give either thumbs up or thumbs down. I’m switching to thumbs up, thumbs down, or neither. Microserfs — This is the kind of book I should just lap up, isn’t it? A geek novel? But I didn’t. It dragged. J-Pod — More enjoyable than Microserfs. Douglas Coupland’s self-referential bits were a bit ... [More]
My old car wasn’t always a 15-year-old bomb. Once upon a time it was the latest in finest automotive excellence. Even the colour in the ad matches mine! (Thanks to Tim C for posting this and other fascinating old Aussie commercials onto YouTube)
When did they rename Swan Street (west of Punt Road) as Olympic Boulevard? I must have missed that memo. Is it just to remind any visiting Sydneysiders that we had an Olympics before them? For something that happened over fifty years ago, it seems a bit odd to keep actively renaming things to commemorate it. ... [More]
Thanks to Kirsten for pointing out that at least one of my blog posts got hit with a spam attack, inserting invisible links into it. See here and here for other reports. The quick solution is to upgrade to WordPress 2.5 quick smart. Which I’ll be doing now, so apologies for any interruptions.
My car is so cool, I can park anywhere I want.
Yesterday there were demonstrators outside the SX building in Exhibition Street, with brochures, a big banner calling for a Royal Commission. Into what? I’m not sure to be honest; it wasn’t obvious. I didn’t look too closely and I didn’t take a brochure as I had other things on my mind. The Premier John Brumby ... [More]
The 2006 Census tells us that in Australia, there are 6,863,624 men above the age of 15. Of these some 616,033 are in defacto relationships, including same-sex relationships. 3,547,331 are married. 2,700,260 are neither. The Census doesn’t tell us how many men wash the dishes. But let’s assume for a moment that 30% of those ... [More]
Plenty has been written about this before, but I’ll put my oar in. Facebook knows lots about you. Most users key in a bunch of stuff about their hobbies, favourite music, TV shows, all that kind of stuff. They know (roughly) where you live, how old you are, often your marital status, your interests. So ... [More]
It was only at the third petrol station yesterday that I found a pump [air] that was working. Found three ATMs in close proximity all out of order at lunchtime. Was anybody else listening to the ABC 774 (3LO) news this morning at 7:45am when somebody pressed the wrong button and The Twilight Zone music ... [More]
How’s this for a scheme? 1. Buy discounted Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bars for $1.29 at Safeway. (On special only until closing time tonight; normal price $1.88) 2. Eat bar. 3. Use code inside wrapper that gets me a $1.69 song from iTunes. 4. Profit! I like chocolate, and I already have an iTunes account. ... [More]
I’m sure anybody who drives a particular trip regularly has in their mind their thoughts on optimising it: which route to take, which lane to be in when, best time to set out, alternate routes available if there’s a major snarl — like there was on Wednesday. What about PT users? Do they think this ... [More]
I don’t mean to gloat or anything, but I’m rather pleased I locked-in my mortgage interest rate last year. It’s locked-in for 5 years (the maximum) which may or may not have been a good idea — only time will tell — but it certainly looks pretty good right now. Mine’s locked-in at 7.85%, whereas ... [More]
Oh dear. That’s not meant to happen. But look on the bright side… there were no ambulances on the scene! (Collins St near Russell St, approx 1:55pm today. There are points there; it looks like the two halves of the tram decided to go different ways.)
One of those frantic days. E Day — the Eddington report came out. Age story. In summary: do we really want to blow $20 billion on tunnels, when one (the road tunnel) appears to serve no purpose (hardly anybody drives NE to W) and the other (the rail tunnel) tries to solve a capacity problem ... [More]
Proposal for a Yarra car ferry. Google Australia introduces predictive web searching, which can show you how the Web will look tomorrow. Google USA and Virgin have combined to form Virgle: sending a human colony to Mars. Andrew Bolt to run for parliament in Peter Costello’s seat. A bunch of stories: SCG stand to be ... [More]