News and current affairs
Apparently the mainstream media (and I guess the public) like nothing better than the tale of a flawed footballer. At one stage yesterday afternoon, the top three stories on The Age website were about Gary Ablett Snr’s car crash, Ben Cousins on the way to rehab, and Alan Didak’s acquaintance. And it’s not even football ... [More]
For all the problems you see around the world, Melbourne has, I think, been generally peaceful when it comes to race relations. Indeed, there are plans afoot to permanently implant some cultures’ businesses into particular city streets — an extension of the concept already used in Chinatown that would spread to the Greek precinct, the ... [More]
I remember reading about our local mayor, and the way she used to complain she didn’t appear enough in the council-produced newsletter. OVER-WORKED City of Glen Eira CEO Andrew Newton has enough on his plate chasing $40,000 from [a] sacked councillor … but now he’s had to listen to [the Mayor] wail about her photo ... [More]
I really pity the people of Sydney who have had to be in the CBD during APEC. (But then, at least most Sydneysiders get the day off, whereas I have to drag myself into work.) NSW Transport Minister John Watkins said yesterday “Between 3 pm and 7.30 pm today, there will be 92 motorcade movements ... [More]
Tragic events involving crocodiles seemed to co-incide yesterday. As the media noted the first anniversary of Steve Irwin’s death, they were also reporting the death of a girl in PNG, dragged from her village by a crocodile. Awful stuff. If that wasn’t enough, the night before, the new Mythbusters series started on SBS, with the ... [More]
It’s now just over ten years since Princess Diana died. One thing I didn’t mention in my blog post at the time was that when I got home, I found my VCR, which had been set to tape an obscure Sunday morning TV programme (the rather amusing look at the parables of Jesus, Wrestling With ... [More]
Last week a colleague who, shall we say, has form for forwarding dodgy emails, sent me one claiming Mars and the Moon would be aligned on Monday morning at 12:30am. Turns out to be a hoax. Happily I didn’t stay/get up specially to watch. Neither did anybody else, apparently (or if they are, they’re not ... [More]
A few weeks ago I was walking along Hotham Street in Balaclava and noted security people on duty outside some of the Jewish buildings. Fairly low-key — just a man and a woman in suits with radios. They said good morning, and I reciprocated. I grew up near there, and it didn’t used to be ... [More]
And you thought I was a geek for knowing 75 digits of pi. Peter Thamm of Melbourne’s Viewbank Secondary College has memorised ten thousand digits. (There’s video available of some of it.) I suppose these days, people have spare number-remembering capacity in their brains, since virtually everyone has a phone (home or mobile) that stores ... [More]
The APEC forum is coming up in Sydney in September, and they’re only shutting down half the city to accomodate them. But we all know what APEC really means… a big photo opp getting the leaders together in clothing that’s “traditional” in the host country — typically those colourful shirts. So, what’ll it be for ... [More]
Regarding the Haneef case… The SIM card. By my count, I have four first-cousins, and I don’t even know how many second-cousins. They all live overseas or interstate, so I don’t see them very often, but if they arrived on the doorstep, I’d welcome them, and if they were in need of a mobile phone ... [More]
Promotions at Parliament Station: 3. Monday: Free fortune cookie advertising Mt Franklin water’s “Well of Positivity“; Tuesday: free sample of Ocean Spray Cranberries; Wednesday: Amnesty International Beggars who have asked for money: 1 in Swanston Street who sounded very scripted “Excuse me sir, we are homeless for a few days”, and as soon as being ... [More]
I didn’t watch much of Live Earth, but it has inspired me to sign up to the pledge. Or at least, my variation of the pledge. 1. I will continue to reduce my carbon emissions, both by switching to more efficient appliances and equipment where practical, and by reducing my use of them. 2. At ... [More]
Four media stories published yesterday, not placed together, but maybe I’m not the only one to see the link. State government wants 2.2 billion dollars from the Feds to widen the Western Ring Road. People keep buying cars, despite high oil prices. With governments (particularly the Feds) pouring billions into roads and spending a fraction ... [More]
I’m relatively used to seeing my name in the newspaper, but most of the time I know it’s coming (like this morning) and I know it’s going to be in a particular context. So when my Google News RSS Feed (surely a sign of a healthy ego) showed up Virginia Haussegger’s article yesterday, I looked ... [More]
“DANIEL Bowen you are so dumped. We are like so over. I’m not even going to send you a text or an email. You can just work it out for yourself. You’re finished.” — Virginia Haussegger in The Canberra Times. No, really. Go read it. My thoughts later. My thoughts here.