My name’s really Daniel, but if you like you can call me Bruce. More fun with Google translations of a Chinese media article: … Victorian government has not yet determined when to start full operation ultra-budget Myki ticketing system, it was originally promised in 2007 and spent 130 million on the operation of the system, ... [More]
Toothpaste. There’s a bewildering number of varieties in just the Colgate brand. This is what the Safeway Homeshop site lists, excluding things like Pump packs and size variations: Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Gel Whitening Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Liquid Gel Icy Blast Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Max Fresh Cool Mint Colgate Toothpaste Advanced Whitening Colgate Toothpaste Baking Soda ... [More]
Back in uni, we had a Unix server which (unlike the faculty machines) was available for use by any student. Its name was yoyo, and it was invaluable back when internet access was hard to come by, and official university access was only granted to students studying IT subjects. Why “yoyo”? There was a hope ... [More]
From time to time you’ll see someone having a whinge that they got on a tram and nobody bought a ticket or validated one, and therefore they must all be freeloaders. For example these comments on the Herald Sun web site: On every tram i board, only one person out of the 30 on there ... [More]
Speaking of shopping for cheap alternatives, but preferring locally-made goods: initially I avoided buying the Aldi cling wrap because it was made in China. Then I noticed all the brands of cling wrap are now made in China, including OSO and Multix, and the one that’s in common use as the generic term, Glad Wrap. ... [More]
From last Saturday’s Herald Sun Weekend section: It was sent when we were passing through Kangaroo Flat on the way to Bendigo the other week. (Thanks for spotting it, onegirlinmelb)
Here, in the interests of data preservation, is the third instalment of my best Twitter posts. July 2008 What’s this? From the man who brought you Myki (Peter Batchelor) comes a new coal-fired power station, the day before Garnaut reports?! 10:09 AM Jul 2nd, 2008 from web Umbrella self-destructed, top flew off. At least the ... [More]
From time to time I’ll rant on Twitter about the FKN (Frankston — it’s an official code) line being stuffed. After a few months of pretty good performance right around the rail network, the past week has seen a marked decline. Pulling together info from Connex’s Twitter feed and SMS alerts, and excluding a medical ... [More]
So, those very nice but badly sized Ecco shoes I bought a couple of months ago… I’m finally selling them on eBay: I bought these shoes recently. I wore them a couple of times and then realised I’d made a huge mistake: I had got the wrong size. Could I return them to the shop? ... [More]
It occured to me that a lot is going to change in public transport in the next few months. Connex is on the way out, to be replaced by MTM trading as Metro. Metcard will be phased out in favour of
My washing machine is a Hoover, which is about 15 years old. It’s been pretty good over the years, though in that time I reckon the service people have been called out perhaps 4-5 times (twice that I recall for blockages which I later learnt to fix myself). Now however the spin cycle is making ... [More]
My blog’s sponsor Lasoo, which provides online catalogues and price comparisons, now has an iPhone application. The media and marketing blog Mumbrella writes: Until you think about its significance, itâs easy enough to dismiss it as just another app. But what it does is bring much closer for consumers the economic concept of the âperfect ... [More]
Tintin and friends landed on the moon in 1952, some 17 years before Apollo 11 got there. While writing the story, Herge and his team researched what the moon would look like on the surface, and as anybody who’s read the book would know, it’s uncannily accurate. After Apollo 11 made it to the Moon, ... [More]
The Jackson Jive The controversy over this skit, which involved five men blacking up (and one “whiting” up) to portray the Jackson 5, rages on. I don’t think it’s as simple as some are making out. Those offended (especially the Americans and Brits) should bear in mind that “blackface” has no history in Australia, and ... [More]
Every time I pass this mural in Glen Huntly, I wonder if the grinning face is meant to be anybody in particular. This sounds like brutal honesty to me — perhaps they’re just not that good. Surely this can’t be good for your tyres.
The billion-dollar-plus Myki ticketing system is slowly moving forward. They’re expecting it to be switched on (at least in part) in Melbourne by the end of the year, followed by V/Line sometime next year. It already runs on regional town buses in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Seymour and the Latrobe Valley. Interestingly there are apparently no ... [More]