Categories
Melbourne News and events

Chaos reigns

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]

Categories
News and events Sport

Wrapping up the week

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]

Categories
Melbourne News and events

Clean up your suburb

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]

Categories
News and events PTUA transport

Connex hacked

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]

Categories
Friends and loved ones News and events

Sometimes the world is horrible

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]

Categories
News and events transport

Can you see the light?

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]

Categories
News and events TV

The MSM at work

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]

Categories
News and events

Australia Day

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]

Categories
News and events

Rising damp

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]

Categories
News and events

That’s an excuse?

“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]

Categories
Home life News and events

Power and heat

I count myself lucky, given the power chaos yesterday. I got out of the city just before things really got pair pear-shaped (even if the train was an old non-aircon one, at least it was moving, and not too crowded, and we opened all the windows, which helped a bit). Marita was, I think, less  ... [More]

Categories
News and events

Happy 2007!

Happy New Year! The last one seems to have gone pretty quickly. Must be because I’ve been so busy. Some followups from 2006: After driving a Prius a few weeks ago, I note Bill Shorten in The Age called for the car companies locally to work on hybrid cars. At the start of the Christmas  ... [More]