The issue of new trams being too long for some tram platform stops was highlighted in The Age the other day, and on ABC Radio’s AM. But having got all the information about it now, I don’t see why it’s a problem. From the document specifying the new order of trams: Optimal operation of the ... [More]
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TV’s obsession with murder
I had been thinking about this for a while when I saw this quote yesterday: “Today’s TV is filled with crime shows, medical shows and all things depressing.” — Herald Sun article about a campaign to bring back Hey Hey It’s Saturday What is it with all the murder shows on TV? Why is there ... [More]
Just a game I thought of: what Doctor Who episode aired on or closest to your birthday? Check this list to find out. (I guess those born before 1963 or in the 90s will probably gravitate to one of two episodes…) Me: Inferno, episode 7 (third Doctor, 1970). This was a classic slow burn story ... [More]
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Ticketing rules you may not know about
I have a vague feeling I might have posted something like this in the past, but I can’t find it, so here it is again. For those of you who don’t read the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual for fun, here are some rules about Metcard ticketing that you may not know about. These rules ... [More]
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Percussion in the park
Yesterday after having a win at Officeworks (they agreed to beat Landmark’s $20 price on Canon ink cartridges by 5%, thus giving me a discount of almost $11 on each of the three I was buying), we took a look at the Sir William Fry reserve. There were couple of strange metal things near the ... [More]
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How crowded is your line?
An article the other day revealed the latest passenger counts on trains show that overcrowding during peak hour has dropped slightly. I don’t have those figures to hand, but I do have these graphs from 2007 handy, and I thought it might be interesting for people to see how the various lines compare. Patronage has ... [More]
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A missed opportunity?
I assume Glen Eira council put this graph of forecast revenue from parking in their propaganda sheet newsletter because they’re pleased about it. I was going to point out that plenty of people park in stupid places, and I’d prefer they got stung with tickets if at all possible, so they can subsidise my council ... [More]
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It can’t be real
The deniers like Steve Fielding would say climate change can’t be real. (An ultra-conservative “becoming” a climate-change skeptic — who saw THAT coming?!) After all, to take a simplistic view, if the planet were starting to heat up, we’d be seeing record low rainfall… Melbourne has recorded its driest first six months of the year ... [More]
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Keith
I was playing around with the Wii Weather Channel. If you zoom out, then hold down the button as you flick the controller just so, you can send the Earth spinning around wildly. Anyway, if one looks around southern Australia, various prominent cities and towns are highlighted. One caught my eye: Keith. Keith? I’d never ... [More]
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Lake Mountain snow
Yesterday we headed up for our semi-annual (?) trip to the snow. With Mt Donna Buang (the closest) looking a little lean in the snow department this weekend, we opted for Lake Mountain: myself, Isaac, Jeremy, my nephew Leo and his dad Adrian (driving). As we headed up the Maroondah Highway, we could see the ... [More]
Almost hidden away in the bottom of The Nicholas Building is the Cathedral Arcade. I can’t say I frequent the quaint shops in there — I just use it as a shortcut — but that ceiling is quite amazing.
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Significant Other
Sometimes memes are just irritating. For instance that “25 things you may not know about me” one. A few friends have done it. I’m not going to. You already got seven things out of me, and fer chrissake there’s 15 years of blog posts people can read if they want to find more. I did ... [More]
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Street name clusters
On my day off yesterday we sauntered down to Jaycar in Cheltenham for electronic gadget goodness. I noticed looking at the map beforehand that a bunch of the streets are named after newspapers: Argus St, Herald St, Age St, Times St. No Sun St that I could see. There are plenty of clusters of street ... [More]
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My rights as a pedestrian
When I’m out walking, I actively (but not foolishly, I hope) defend my rights as a pedestrian. If I have an opportunity to walk safely and legally before a car goes, I will take it. The main rules are not difficult to comprehend, but some motorists just don’t seem to understand them. [Page references are ... [More]
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Digital TV
I had a dream last night that hundreds of new TV channels showed up on digital TV tuners. Weird. I haven’t yet upgraded to digital TV. I’m in the unfortunate position of: (a) having bought a 4:3 CRT TV at precisely the wrong time, about 7 years ago, just before the prices plummeted when widescreen ... [More]
I don’t have a post for you this morning, so here’s something I prepared earlier. This morning I had a chat to the people at 3CR about PT issues, and it reminded me of this recording from Joy FM back in April. I think they’d been intending to post the podcast themselves, but haven’t… so ... [More]