In each generation, most kids show boundless enthusiasm for creative pursuits. Whether it be drawing, building things, play-acting, whatever. When I was a kid, there was a lot of Lego building going on. My sister and I constructed whole cities. Sometimes we’d stick to the official designs of the sets, sometimes we’d go out on ... [More]
Category: Retrospectives
Long boring retrospectives
We lived in a number of places when I was growing up, but this block of flats at 62 Hotham Street, East St Kilda, was where we were the longest — seven years, for me from the age of about 4 to 11, covering most of primary school. The place doesn’t seem to have changed ... [More]
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My first tax return
During the continuing clearout of junk, today I came across my first tax return, from 1988-1989. The highlights: I had a HECS debt of $900 Income was $3167 from Austudy, and $2368 from my part time job The only other money earnt was a mighty $1.57 in bank account interest Total income a huge $5536, ... [More]
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Thursday thoughts
I just did a load of washing, including a doona cover. Every single other item ended up inside the doona cover. How is this possible? Number of people observed at the mobile blood bank last week who were reading The Da Vinci Code: 2. It’s hot again today. Trying to take cover, keep the house ... [More]
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Radio across the globe
Was chatting the other day to Tony about radio web casts from across the globe, and I was remembering how much harder it used to be before the age of the Innanet. About 20 years ago I had a rickety old shortwave radio with which I used to listen to the BBC World Service. It ... [More]
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How I became a Geelong supporter
Geelong beat the Bombers by ten points on Saturday night in a rain-soaked MCG. Next comes the Preliminary Finals, and it’s the Brisbane Lions, which isn’t going to be an easy one to win. I’m not the world’s biggest footy fan, but I do like to keep an eye on Geelong. It’s been a while ... [More]
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Daniel’s diary FAQ
Where it came from What’s in it Where it’s going to Why this name Comments Other stuff Where it came from When I originally started writing and posting stuff to the Net (via e-mail and Usenet) in 1990, it was pretty much all off-the-wall “I wish I was a Python” surreal bizarro kind of stuff. ... [More]
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A familiar face
The other day an old bloke got on the train at Spencer Street. He looked vaguely familiar. A station or two later I worked out who I thought it was. Major Grigsby! Griggers. My old year 12 co-ordinator*, probably long-since retired. I wasn’t sure until a few stops later when some kids from my old ... [More]
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How many cars?
Isaac asked me this the other week, and I had to think about it for a moment: How many cars have you driven? I probably drove more cars while learning to drive than subsequently: My driving instructor’s white Corolla – André from the RACV Driving School must have nerves of steel, and his car a ... [More]
…and how pictures make a story real. If there was a Daniel FAQ, these questions would feature in it: Why are you involved in the Public Transport Users Association? What’s in it for you? And can I tell you about how late my train was this morning? Perhaps another long rambling retrospective is in order. ... [More]
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Gaming in the 21st century
Call me an old fuddy duddy if you like, but for the most part I still like the video and computer games of olde a bit better. Though graphics and sound have leapt forward over the past couple of decades, the quality of gameplay is the subject of some debate. How playable is a game ... [More]
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How I became a geek
Recently I’ve been reading some of Jeff “Yak” Minter’s nostalgic look back at how he got into writing computer games in the 1980s, and it’s got me thinking about those days, and how it’s shaped my life — or at least, my professional working life. It’s something I have written about briefly before, but I ... [More]
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Big ears
Years ago, I occasionally shopped at Rod Irving Electronics in A’Beckett Street. There was a shop assistant in there who looked like Darrin from Bewitched. The first, original Darrin, with the ears that stuck out. Apart from the ears, he had slicked back jet black hair, a dark suit and very shiny shoes. I don’t ... [More]
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20 minutes into the future
In the late 80s and early 90s, I watched a lot of TV. I also recorded a lot of TV. It’s left me with a rather large collection of VHS tapes, probably in the region of 250. As the 90s changed from “early” to “mid” it finally dawned on me (Eureka!) that I wasn’t getting ... [More]
Dunno if anybody remembers, but MSN was originally not a web site, it was a
proprietary online service, with its own set of dialup Points Of Presence, and its own media standards.
Categories
The Gravy Day barbecue
Happy Gravy Day. Bev’s Home Group, Ardoch 1984. Sorry, my haircut was far too embarrassing for me to provide a close-up. At a rather good barbecue today (obviously before the rain came pouring down) I had a couple of blasts from the past, back from almost 20 years ago, those heady days of year 7 ... [More]