I’ve been thinking about cancelling the newspaper subscription. I’m trying to watch my expenditure at the moment, and am wondering if it’s really worth the money, given a lot of the news I read is online. The pros of the subscription Cheaper than buying it every day. I definitely love having the Saturday paper delivered ... [More]
Mobile phones aren’t perfect, no matter which network you’re on. There are dropouts. What’s even more annoying than a dropout is when both parties try to re-establish the call simultaneously, and so both get busy signals or voicemail. And they keep trying. In my book, unless someone’s said beforehand that they’re the one who will ... [More]
Free at lunchtime and not too far from Parliament House? Join the protest WHAT: Stop the Brumby Government riding roughshod over our rights. WHEN: Tuesday 3rd February Arriving at 11.30 am. Speakers begin at Midday. WHERE: Parliament House, Bourke + Spring Sts, Melbourne. WHY: Bring back democracy. A joint protest on water, climate change and ... [More]
I wouldn’t pretend to know a great deal about house design. But obviously it’s more energy efficient to design a building so that as far as possible, in summer it is kept cool by shade (rather than by air-conditioning) and in winter kept warm by the sun (rather than by heating). Apparently this is called ... [More]
Arriving at the station yesterday morning, up the line at McKinnon, we could see this: Not a good sign. Word was there was a fire on the train. The evening TV news and today’s Herald Sun revealed what happened: Jesse Martin, once lauded as the youngest person to sail solo around the world, had come ... [More]
I was going to post a photo showing the ugly truth of working at home with no aircon when it’s 43.2 degrees outside and nobody else is home. But I think the world can be spared that. Instead I’ll ponder this: why are the trains so bad this summer? Were they always this bad and ... [More]
I wouldn’t normally consider myself a Trekkie. But when it was first on the telly, late at night on Channel 9, I did regularly tape Star Trek: The Next Generation, at least for a while. And I did once dress up as Data for a Star Trek: How to Host a Mystery night. But I ... [More]
The forecast for Melbourne: Tuesday: Sunny day. Max 38 Wednesday: Sunny. Min 25 Max 41 Thursday: Sunny. Min 26 Max 40 Friday: Sunny. Min 24 Max 40 Saturday: Sunny. Min 24 Max 40 Thankfully it looks like a cool change will come through on Sunday, but it’s times like these I wish I could hibernate ... [More]
Happy Australia Day. One of the most damn impressive things I’ve seen recently is the giant statue of Mazu beside the railway line between South Kensington and Footscray. It towers over everything else nearby. It’s part of a Buddhist temple being built on the site. More pictures here
A comment from Anna the other day: A letter in The Age today outlined what happened to an inconvenienced train traveller in Britain recently: after an hour delay, each passenger was personally given a form to claim reimbursement for the trip. The train management apparently have an agreed passenger treatment charter, and they abide by ... [More]
I’m still really enjoying the Wii. The favourite game with the kids is tennis, playing on one side together, though we’re getting good at it and it’s been giving us some pretty tough opponents. (I can only imagine that tennis purists are aghast at Wii Sports tennis; from the “best of 1/3/5 games” to the ... [More]
I know Barack Obama ultimately may not quite live up to expectations, but I have high hopes, and I’m certainly not sorry to see the back of George W Bush… I had to laugh when I saw a photo of the Ikea Oval Office they set up at Union Station in Washington DC, complete with ... [More]
I wrote in December that recycled tissues had disappeared from the supermarket shelves. I did find an email contact for ABC Tissues (who make the Naturale brand) — they told me to expect their recycled tissues back into Woolworths/Safeway stores soon, in a new packaging. Last week Flerdle commented that they’d been spotted in Brunswick. ... [More]
Whatever the reason, sometimes it’s great to try something new. The idea for this one came from noting the kids getting hooked on Star Trek. Yesterday we headed out for an hour-long sail around the bay on the Enterprize, the replica of the 1829 schooner that brought some of Melbourne’s first settlers from Tasmania. If ... [More]
What are the odds? Within five minutes of each other last night, I spotted two drivers yakking away on their phones as they drove down the street, both with personalised licence plates. So, TOOZ and COURTZ… you’re a pair of morons. Speaking of personalised number plates, why would you choose the plate MAGGOT?
She looked about twenty. She sounded upset on the phone. She wasn’t quite sure where she was going, and her phone battery was running out. The heat in the tram was stifling. She hung up and started to sob. Then she collapsed. She mostly fell downwards, and didn’t seem to bump her head. A couple ... [More]