No straps to hold onto / Standing in the doorways is easiest Connex has a proposal to reduce the number of seats in some trains, as well as other internal carriage changes, including changing the doorways, and putting in more handholds. …Flashback… Almost six years ago, I took my newly purchased Canon A70 digital camera ... [More]
Every so often you realise a clear out is in order. When I realised yesterday there were a thousand items in my Gmail inbox, I decided I had to do something. So I started at the bottom of it, and started clearing and filing. I’m about halfway through it. In the process I found some ... [More]
Apparently I’m a militant. [Myki] has been slagged by public transport militant Daniel Bowen by reference to the hideous early 1980’s hit ‘Hey Mickey’ recently revived in cheerleader films of dubious repute. — Vexnews — news for patriots (?!) Hmmmmm. Interesting that they linked to a blog post where I thought I was quite impartial ... [More]
A while back I tried kangaroo sausages (“kanga bangas”). Can’t say I really liked them. But in the past week, I’ve tried kangaroo mince, in two recipes: spag bol, and chilli. Perhaps it’s because the taste is partially hidden amongst a mass of tomato and other ingredients, but both these were hits — little difference ... [More]
Some members of my family will regularly read the Herald Sun birth notices looking for amusing names. Often they raise a smile. Here’s one they noticed the other day. Now, I’ve met people called Damon before. Damon is evidently an Irish name meaning Tame. But Daemon? I know the people who read and comment here ... [More]
Here’s something for those that read the article Rudd’s nephew clashes with Connex in the Sunday Age this morning online, without the benefit of the photos in the paper edition. Unlike Jen I’m a frequent user of the Degraves St Subway/Campbell Arcade, the quick non-traffic-lighted way out of Flinders Street Station. The Platform group displays ... [More]
It was just before 9pm last night. I thought at first it was a ruddy big truck moving down my street. Or a really strong gust of wind. But the whole house was shaking. It passed after a few seconds. Nothing had cracked or fallen. I looked outside. Silence. No thunder, no wind. Twitter and ... [More]
Informative The driver I got during last Monday week’s afternoon mess on the Dandenong and Frankston lines was jovial, frank, and informative. I’m paraphrasing here: “There’s another train broken down at Southern Cross, so we’re being changed to run directly to Richmond… as soon as I can get to the other end of the train.” ... [More]
A great little video (about 10 minutes long), illustrating in a very Hitch Hiker’s-like style how the financial system (in the US particularly) got into such deep do-do. The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo. Making-of information
There’s now proof that the introduction of Myki will actually slow down trams. The Libs FOI’d the test figures, which found that: …if 20 passengers join a tram and another 20 alight at the same stop, the predicted average time a tram would be stationary was 38 seconds under the new myki smartcard compared to ... [More]
My Yearly Metcard is almost up for renewal, and I was pondering if I can somehow organise to stagger it and my other biggish expenses for the year? Yearly ticket — $1065. Mine expires in April, so if I want the cheap price I need to order in early-March — about now. If I pay ... [More]
Just so you know, this is not me: Brazen Careerist blogger Daniel Bowen talks about the seven effective habits of highly frugal people. He says frugal types go out of their way to take care of every purchase and spend money on maintenance, as that’s cheaper. Instead of buying, they make things, they set a ... [More]
Years ago I wrote a short piece for Toxic Custard about the discovery of a new primary colour: The art world was rocked yesterday at the announcement of Professor Hans Von Fabre of the discovery of a new primary colour. The fourth primary colour, to be known as hans, will revolutionise art and technology all ... [More]
Just comparing some of the snacks I regularly take into work, or buy from the charity boxes or fundraiser boxes. Snack Sultanas 40g Banana 118g Apple 182g Giant Freddo Frog 40g Carmans Apricot & almond muesli bar Mars Bar 60g Energy 536 kJ 440 kJ 396 kJ 884 kJ 796 kJ 1150 kJ Protein 1.1 ... [More]
Sunday afternoon, waiting for the 6:40. Yes, people with grey hair use laptops too. “Mind the gap” is something familiar to Londoners (where some of the gaps really are worth minding), but this warning has recently shown up at Footscray. Monday the 16th was not a good day on the Frankston line. I didn’t have ... [More]
Fiddling with the web server. Comments will be disabled for a little while, and you may notice some other glitches in the next little while. Update. Moved to new server. Consolidating hosting plans. Not as smooth as I hoped. WP2.7.1 broke some bits of it. 2.7 looks better. Thursday morning. Just waiting for the DNS ... [More]