News and current affairs
Good numbers, considering it had poured with rain a couple of hours earlier. Human sign, as seen from ABC helicopter. Channel 7 also sent a chopper. We were on the A in “Climate”, where the cross-bar thingy meets the right hand side. Shot after the sign. They reckon about 2500 people turned up in all, ... [More]
There’s not much you can say about the tragic events at Virginia Tech yesterday. Just terrible, awful stuff. But I would note this: After Australia’s Port Arthur massacre in 1996, the State and Federal governments moved to ban a large number of weapons, and tighten controls on others. Since then, there has been no mass ... [More]
So today we’ve had the Citylink tunnels closed due to a fatal crash, a gas leak in Malvern causing the suspension of Frankston and Dandenong trains, a big grass fire in Sunshine, and vomit-inducing fumes last night at a restaurant in Doncaster. And I heard a truckload of (non-flammable, apparently) orange bottles spilled all over ... [More]
Santoro’s out. I think it’s kind of a shame. It’s rare that the Australian parliament can boast his level of alliteration. He wasn’t just Santo Santoro, he was Senator Santo Santoro. A few months ago I mentioned theories about fluoride improving dental health. Now a study has concluded that yes, it’s made a big difference. ... [More]
Was out and about on Sunday. It was Clean Up Australia Day. Not apparent that anybody was actually cleaning up, and I saw more scrap newspaper in the street than in quite some time. I know they tend to concentrate on parks and beaches and so on, and often for bigger problems than litter. All ... [More]
So, did we all get the fake SMS from Connex last night? I certainly did. Looks like lots did. ALLAHU AKBR FROM CONNEX! our inspectorS Love Killing people – If you see one coming, run. Want to bomb a train? they will gladly help! See you in hell! Shame they can’t spell. The followup, later ... [More]
At first glance, to someone living my busy-but-comfortable life, the world is a pretty nice place. The trees are green, the birds noisy but happy, the neighbours are friendly, the paper arrives on the lawn every day and food and drink are plentiful. But you only have to watch the news to know that much ... [More]
The Australian government is going to get conventional (incandescent) light globes phased out in favour of energy efficient bulbs. Obviously this will save people money on their power bills. And it’ll reduce household emissions. Up to 75% of emissions from household lighting will be saved. How much is that? Ummm… Well, not that much at ... [More]
Yesterday at Fed Square, the white stationwagons were a dead giveaway that the TV guys were around. Sure enough, across the road on Princes Bridge, Ted was fronting the cameras. I got my go a few minutes later. (It was one of those days, if you didn’t know.) In the pack I can see Alan ... [More]
With all the controversy over the flag this year, and what it may represent in the hands of some people, I found it refreshing to read this, posted on one of The Australian’s blogs by ex-serviceman John Taylor: The Australian flag has many places where it can and should be displayed. But this is not ... [More]
I saw this Google Map Mashup a while back, but Pete found it for me again: What happens if the sea level rises? Even for the maximum shown, a 14 metre rise, if this is right, apparently most of Melbourne will remain above water, though if you live in Altona, Port Melbourne or Chelsea, you ... [More]
“A lot of people died in Iraq today, most of them kids. This is a very minor matter.” — Chris Murphy, Matthew Newton’s solicitor, to reporters. Is this going to be known as the Matthew Newton Defence: claiming what you did wasn’t so bad because there’s worse things going on, unchecked, elsewhere in the world? ... [More]