Thanks in part to Google Reader and the miracle of RSS feeds, I read way more blogs than I post comments on. I do leave some comments, but I just don’t have the time to properly have a blog.conversation on all the posts I read. I try to bear in mind the XKCD cartoon: “Someone ... [More]
“Change here for Unknown LineID [11].” You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Unknown LineID [11]. It sounds like a delightful part of the world. To my surprise, it didn’t happen just once.
A full-page advert for the coal industry in The Age caught my eye the other day. I just love this bit (quoted here from their web site): Carbon dioxide in our daily lives Carbon dioxide itself is not a danger in our everyday lives. In fact, all life on the planet depends on carbon dioxide. ... [More]
Back in the old house in Ames Avenue, the “central bathroom” was down the back of the house, next to the kitchen. The spot where the microwave oven lived was only about 3 metres from the shower. And the microwave we had at the time included a countdown timer. So when water restrictions came in ... [More]
From Hansard — Public transport: automatic ticketing I refer the Minister for Transport to his statement in today’s Herald Sun newspaper that: “Perhaps with 20/20 hindsight we may have tackled things in another way and not signed a contract for a system that had not been trialled anywhere else in the world.” Given this extraordinary ... [More]
It’s time for a clearout. Here’s a bunch of posts I wrote but never got around to posting. In some cases I intended to research them a bit more before publishing, so beware they may be a little half-arsed. Backwards There were claims and counter-claims during the Kororoit byelection campaign (June 2008). I suppose Les ... [More]
Not as in-your-face as the charity muggers waiting on street corners with clipboards are the roasted chestnut stands around town. But does anybody actually buy them? Particularly now the warm weather’s arrived, I can’t imagine many people buying them, but even in winter I never seem to see them have any customers whatsoever. I hope ... [More]
I was planning on doing Movember this year, but other events in October left me all disorganised (well, more than usual) and I didn’t sign up. For those who are overseas or have otherwise not heard of Movember, it’s a fundraiser. Blokes are clean shaven at the start, but don’t shave their moustaches for the ... [More]
From today there were changes to the City Loop. Clifton Hill trains are now running clockwise all day on weekdays (though oddly anti-clockwise on weekends, just to keep people guessing) and Werribee trains are running direct via Southern Cross and Flinders Street in peak hours, bypassing the loop. Is there angst about this? You bet. ... [More]
Dear silver RAV4 driver who crossed my path this morning, I’ve filled in a form on the EPA web site. You should be hearing from them soon. I recommend you talk to your passenger about a contribution for the fine you’ll be getting.
So I’m working from home today, and (while getting some work done) keeping an eye on the vote. I hope any Americans reading made the effort to vote. How is it that ABC1 can screw-up their CNN feed? First they were blocking half the vital latest figures (the electoral college count) with a stock banner. ... [More]
After checking out of the hotel and temporarily leaving the bags in their care, we headed to the shops to buy a newspaper and one last postcard. Then there was time for a little more flying foxing in the playground (and some filming for a video production the kids had devised) before picking up the ... [More]
(Backdated to the day it happened.) Does it drive country people batty to have such restricted access to weather forecasts? Maybe it’s just capital city people like me who are used to being able to get an up-to-date weather forecast on-demand (without having to get online): on the TV news bulletins morning, noon and night, ... [More]
(Backdated to the day it happened.) The Friday before leaving for Warrnambool, I’d tried to find a hire car company based in central Warrnambool — that is, reasonable walking distance from the hotel. The hire car aggregator sites like DriveNow couldn’t help me, so I looked at the big companies’ web sites, in conjunction with ... [More]
(Backdated to the day it happened.) After mixing it with the race-goers on the train and at Southern Cross station, the 1pm train to Warrnambool left right on time, with only one catch: an old bloke who reckoned he should have one of our seats. We compared tickets — my handwritten one from Bentleigh station ... [More]
It’s our annual short break time again. Going to Warrnambool today with the kids for a few days. Lake Pertobe adventure playground definitely on the list of things to do, as is the Flagstaff Hill maritime museum. Going down by train. The fare’s amazingly cheap, and V/Line’s online booking looked good, but I had to ... [More]