News and current affairs
Six days to go until the Commonwealth Games… (Based on the Rexona advert. Pic from CPT.) I (with my PTUA hat on) got an invitation to the swimming, plus a breakfast function hosted by John Thwaites. We had a chat about it and decided that given it wasn’t a lobbying opportunity, it wasn’t appropriate for ... [More]
There was a teenager on the train, last Thursday night, sitting somewhere behind me. He was asking someone — probably his mother, which stop they were going to… was it the end of the line… where did the train go to after that? These questions answered, he kept talking, to the strangers around him on ... [More]
I must be getting old. Increasingly I glance at the Business section of The Age. Sometimes I even understand some of it. It must be for the opinion pieces.
Happy Australia Day.
Quiz question for you. No cheating, leave your answer in the comments. Before 11th September 2001, how many buildings were in the World Trade Centre in New York City? And what happened to them?
Red flag, white crescent and star. Name it. Wednesday lunchtime. The traffic lights weren’t changing. Two motorcycle cops zoomed up, lights flashing, shouting instructions, gesticulating and giving a blast from their sirens to gain attention. “You! Do your hook turn! You wait there!” We lunchtime pedestrians looked on, bemused. Intersection cleared, traffic and people waiting. ... [More]
A huge crowd for the demonstration against the Federal Government’s industrial relations reform package in the city today. Work commitments meant I couldn’t join in, but I did pass nearby and saw all the people. This is the crowd outside Flinders Street Station at 9:50am, as snapped by the Omni webcam. In the nearby arcades, ... [More]
Remembrance Day at Flinders Street Station, 11am this morning. Two police stop the traffic. The crowd stops moving, and grows silent. A bugler plays The Last Post. A minute’s silence. Then the Rouse. A simple, yet moving commemoration for the war dead. Update 11/11/2013 — Revised pics, and fixed video.
There was a time in my not too distant past when the very prospect of kids Trick or Treating on Halloween would have had me angrily shouting about American cultural imperialism. Maybe I’m mellowing. This past weekend the Bentleigh Shopping Centre organised a Halloween dress-up. Many participated, including my own children (though I didn’t organise ... [More]
Confirmed geek telecommunications specialist David Mery was arrested at Southwark tube station in London. What had he done? Among other things, he’d failed to look at police on the way into the station, was wearing a jacket they decided was ‘too warm for the season’, had a bulky rucksack, and two other men entered the ... [More]
The following is from a friend who has a relative who is a firefighter helping in the hurricane zone. Re-posted with permission. FEMA is the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. I find it rather frightening that they should be showing such obvious ineptitude dealing with the disaster. I just got off the phone with ****. ... [More]
After trying to stuff the Business section into its main News pages, and apparently getting flayed for it, The Age has now tried to stuff the Metro section in there instead. They say that Metro readers were sick of looking through the Sport section to find it. That’s probably true, but will they be any ... [More]