Categories
Politics and activism

Federal issues

I would hope that everyone is actually considering what issues matter to them, and deciding how to vote on that basis, rather than just blindly voting for one side or the other. Of course, it’s not just a matter of chosing Labor or Coalition, particularly in the upper house. It may well be that The  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism

Trolleys

Some supermarkets require a deposit (usually a $1 or $2 coin) to get a trolley. Some don’t. Personally I wouldn’t object if deposits were required universally, given the number of (almost always non-deposit) trolleys that get wheeled away, and end up in stupid places. Hopefully it’d mean less trolleys get a wheel broken and are  ... [More]

Categories
Film Retrospectives Video games

The toy of the movie of the game

Spotted in K-Mart: Lego Prince of Persia. So let me get this straight… this is the toy of the movie of the video game. I wonder if there’ll be (as there was with Star Wars and others) a Lego video game of it. That would be the game of the toy of the movie of  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne

Unusual sights in Footscray Park

The chair has no seat. I’m uncertain as to why anybody wishing to dispose of a broken chair would carry it into the middle of a park. A traditional milk jug country mailbox, but found in pile of earth in an inner-city park. I didn’t check to see if there was any mail in it.

Categories
Home life

Sinister letter

This letter arrived in the mail. It’s going back Return To Sender. But note the rather ominous text on the envelope. Debt collectors? Overdue medical test? What could it be? (No cheating/Googling now.)

Categories
Net

Why I prefer Twitter to Facebook

Twitter and Facebook have some similarities. Both offer a micro-blogging feature via status updates. Of the two, I think I prefer Twitter. Why Twitter’s better Twitter’s public. You don’t need a logon to see my Twitter feed. (It can also be made private, if one prefers.) Twitter’s open. You don’t need to log onto a  ... [More]

Categories
Food'n'drink Health

Superfoods

In the comments of a previous post was mention of superfoods. There appears to have been a recent reluctance from dieticians to use the term because of its manipulation by food marketeers, with the EU banning its use unless it can be proven. However this page from Kraft Foods flags their top ten (none of  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne transport

Every suburb needs…

Every suburb needs a combined noodle shop and bus stop. Another view from Google Streetview

Categories
Going green

When not to use CFLs

Letter the other week in The Age: Not worth the cost AM I the only person having trouble with expensive ”green globes” alleged to last 10,000 hours? Used eight hours a day, a globe should last more than three years. I have replaced the globe in one lamp four times already this year. I want  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Fare Free Friday

With public transport free today, it looks like some are taking advantage — there seemed to be more Seniors on the train this morning, enjoying a free trip into the city (even though it’s only $3.40 normally). But overall the train wasn’t markedly more crowded than usual, and it’s not like everyone abandoned their cars  ... [More]

Categories
dreams Melbourne

The stolen car dream, and Neighbourhood Watch

The stolen car dream I was going to visit my old uni mate Brian (who actually lives in Florida, though I saw him a few weeks ago when he recently visited Melbourne again). In the dream, he was staying at my mum’s house in Hampton. I parked in the usual spot when visiting her, and  ... [More]

Categories
transport

If you don’t always touch-off, it often doesn’t matter

The Myki mantra of “touch-on, touch-off” will reach fever-pitch as it gets pushed across the PT network. And people will say it’s a hassle. Which it is. The touch is (if everything works okay) quicker and easier than inserting a Metcard into a slot, but having to do it twice per trip negates that somewhat.  ... [More]

Categories
TV

Going digital

I finally got myself organised for digital TV, including Thursday night’s launch of ABC News 24. (The opening minutes of ABC News 24, posted by Adam Dimech) I’d been putting off buying a set-top box, remembering the rule that technology always gets cheaper over time. I was waiting for an HD set-top box with USB  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Uh oh

Every time your train is stuck inexplicably in a tunnel, every time a service is cancelled, the experience is not just eroding your quality of life. It is eating away at our city’s global competitiveness. — Boris Johnson, Mayor of London in the London Evening Standard, 15/10/2009 A power problem at Southern Cross Station has  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA transport

Myki trams and buses: day one

A journo mentioned a certain MP this morning was quoting some transport-related sections my blog — presumably the favourable ones, such as the post that talked about the Myki transition plan. While my posts here do not necessarily represent PTUA policy, I suppose this blog is part of the mix of being an advocate —  ... [More]

Categories
Net

Do not like (or dislike)

Have disabled the “Like” comments feature, after previously trying it with Like/Dislike, then disabling Dislike. Few were using it; bit of a waste of time for a site like this I suspect. Like or dislike a comment? Leave an actual response instead!