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Geek Toxic Custard newsletter

Is Google recording your conversations without you knowing?

To my surprise, Google has stored dozens of voice recordings of mine, going back about 18 months.

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Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Old photos from May 2008

Another in my series of old photos from ten years ago, this time from May 2008… Petrol prices shot up this month. This would be about $2.06 in today’s dollars. More amazing is that just four years earlier, the RACV had predicted prices wouldn’t go above about $1.08. ACMI has put on a lot of  ... [More]

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Sydney 2018 Toxic Custard newsletter

Cruising home like a rock star

Backdated. Posted 26/5/2018 Last morning in Sydney; almost time to go home. After checking out of the hotel, we headed back to the gallery to see if Sunday morning was a better option for looking at the Archibald Prize finalists than Friday had been. On the walk, the last of the half-marathon runners were coming  ... [More]

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Sydney 2018 Toxic Custard newsletter

The noise of art

Backdated. Posted 24/5/2018 Sydney getaway continued. First stop: a bakery in the Queen Victoria Building, the spectacular 19th century shopping arcade, where we grabbed some croissants for breakfast. Then to Town Hall Station to hop on a train to inner-city Redfern. A short walk from Redfern Station is Carriageworks, a former… well, railway carriage workshop,  ... [More]

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Sydney 2018 Toxic Custard newsletter

Sydney on shanks’ pony

Backdated. Posted 23/5/2018 Hotel buffet breakfast at the Sheraton is an eye-popping $44 per person. This is no big surprise – hotel breakfasts are always expensive. But they’d said at check-in that we had a $50 credit, so that took the cost down to $38 for the two of us, which is probably cheaper than  ... [More]

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Sydney 2018 Toxic Custard newsletter

Mini-break in Sydney

Post backdated. Published 21/5/2018. M wanted to see the Lady And The Unicorn tapestries before they head home to France from their exhibit at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. No big holiday likely this year, so how about we do a short break in Sydney? Booking the flights After looking at frequent flyer  ... [More]

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Geek Toxic Custard newsletter

Beware of fake email bills – and how the corporates are letting the side down

There are warnings of fake Telstra bills being sent by email. They look like the real thing. The only clue that they’re not is that the View/Pay Bill button goes to a non-Telstra web site. The lesson here is: check where the link goes. If it doesn’t go to an address that is clearly on  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter walking

Bushes and trees blocking footpaths

We all like some greenery in our neighbourhoods. But as I noted in this rant blog post, one bane of pedestrians is bushes and trees overhanging footpaths. They’re not really obvious unless you’re walking, but bushes and trees like this are everywhere. I’m sick of having to duck out of their way. This is especially  ... [More]

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Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Old photos from April 2008

It’s the last day of April, so here’s my monthly post of photos from ten years ago. Early April 2008 seems to have been busy. I had this opinion piece published on the ABC web site, in relation to the then-just published Eddington “East West Link Needs Assessment“: An unhealthy dose of bitumen for Melbourne  ... [More]

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driving Toxic Custard newsletter

Car sizes, and safety: New vs used

I mentioned last year I was thinking about upgrading my car, which is frequently unused during the week, but still needed on occasions. Car share hasn’t reached our area yet. Buying cars is not something I do lightly. In 18 years of driving, I’ve only owned two vehicles: a 1993 Magna (owned 2000-2008), and a  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Go read this piece in The Age

I don’t have a blog post for you today, but head over to The Age to read my opinion piece there: We can afford better public transport – if we stop building freeways Hopefully it gets some people thinking and talking.

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Health Toxic Custard newsletter

Floaters!

Everybody gets floaters to some extent, apparently. Little artefacts, interference in your eyesight. Floating blobs. In the last couple of months I’ve been getting more of them than before, particularly in bright light. Official advice says this is common in people as they get older, and is likely to be either the vitreous humour slightly  ... [More]