Some reasons why the Rod Eddington-proposed east-west road tunnel makes no sense: 1. Eddington’s own study showed the road tunnel would have a benefit/cost ratio of just 45 cents in the dollar. 2. Even including the rather wobbly “wider economic benefits” only got it up to 72 cents. (Only by lumping in other projects including ... [More]
This might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but there was some fascinating reading on economics and politics in last week’s media, and since I have nothing else for you, here it is in my blog: Bernard Keane on Access Economics’ poor record on forecasts: Then there was Access’s early 2009 warning that it would ... [More]
Are these Modern Warfare: Call of Duty 3 “Captain Price” USB drives, sent out as part of Movember, really “limited edition”, or are there eleventy-billion of them out there? Although I’d normally subscribe to the view that one can always use another USB drive, I’m wondering… would any of you MWCOD fans pledge a donation ... [More]
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Sunday Age “outperforms the rest”
I’m always amused when one of the newspapers crows about the latest circulation figures. THE Sunday Age continues to be the best-performing metropolitan newspaper in Australia, according to the latest circulation figures. The newspaper recorded the best year-on-year growth to September 2011 of any daily, Saturday or Sunday newspaper in the country. — Sunday Age: ... [More]
If you won’t donate for me growing a moustache, how about for getting this picture? Train, tram and bus in one pic. Despite a train theoretically every minute or two between Flinders Street and Southern Cross, three tram routes (excluding the City Circle) and numerous bus routes passing this intersection, it took a surprising amount ... [More]
Last Friday MX ran a story about Metro plans to shut down its SMS text alert service, in favour of pushing people towards the mobile web site and Twitter. This was sparked by an ad earlier in the week in MX, station posters, and an email sent to SMS subscribers, all encouraging people to “say ... [More]
(This could have gone to Geek Rant, but it’s not overly technical…) Some stupid web site stuff, that would be easy to fix/avoid, that bugs me: When you click to watch an online video, and the player shows you the video advert, but then stops working when it comes to play the actual thing you ... [More]
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I don’t have a proper blog post for you, so here’s a few pictures from the last week or so. If you were looking for Myer’s Lonsdale Street store, it’s gone — almost all of it except the facade. (When I was a kid, we often went into the City on a Friday night, had ... [More]
Now there’s some serious stubble emerging. I really have no idea which style of mo’ I should be going for, nor really any idea about how I achieve this. (Trimming them is not something I have any experience of.) Donate here
By my count… (please flag in the comments if I mess it up) Most trams on routes: 96, 109 Some on routes: 5, 6, 8, 16, 48, 72, 112 None on routes: 1, 3/3a, 19, 30, 35, 55, 57, 59, 64, 67, 70, 75, 78/79, 82, 86, City Circle Some (minor routes) 24, 42 Some ... [More]
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Buses, trains, and bus ways
Today’s Movember update here (I’ll post the latest pics to the blog every 2-3 days.) A lot of people express a preference of trains over buses. I suspect it’s mostly about ride quality. Railed vehicles are generally going to be smoother than tyred vehicles. And there’s also perception of permanence (and in Melbourne, perception of ... [More]
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Movember day 2 – the mere hint of a mo’
Not much to report yet; the mere hint of a thought of a consideration of a moustache. In fact, it’s barely even stubble. Donate here
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In pictures… Road Morons
One can only hope that (a) the idiots didn’t hit anybody as they sped through the Mall, and that (b) those that do this kind of thing get pulled over for it. (1:21pm on Monday) As you can see from Google Streetview, there is signage/road markings indicating that when coming westbound on Bourke Street, motorists ... [More]
As I’ve mentioned, this month I’m growing a moustache for charity. I’ll try and post a picture each morning. Here’s the first: day one of Movember. It should probably really be day zero, because under the rules we start clean-shaven. Being Cup Day, I took the time to do the blade shaver thing this morning ... [More]
A lot of people have asked why a Z-class tram was chosen for the Queen’s tram ride (rather than Melbourne’s traditional and iconic W-class, for instance). Here’s the answer: W and A-class trams don’t have handrails in the middle of the doorways, which can be a big help for older people. B-class trams do, but ... [More]