A friend of a friend is sick. Dying. Body riddled with cancer. Months to live. He’s not young, but not old, and by all accounts he’s a good guy. He’s told people that he wants to hear now, whatever they were planning to say after he was gone. He’s a religious man. His whole family ... [More]
The Australian government is going to get conventional (incandescent) light globes phased out in favour of energy efficient bulbs. Obviously this will save people money on their power bills. And it’ll reduce household emissions. Up to 75% of emissions from household lighting will be saved. How much is that? Ummm… Well, not that much at ... [More]
Since I set off the bug bombs last week, I’ve found no live cockroaches in the house, save for one that stowed away from the mailbox in a pile of junkmail. A few dead ones have been found, mostly outside the back door, perhaps trying to escape. And last night I found a dead hairy ... [More]
Yesterday afternoon, reminiscing at ACMI’s Hits of the 80s video game exhibit — free at Melbourne’s Federation Square until May. While most of the games were running on Spectrum or C64 emulators, this copy of Way Of The Exploding Fist was running on a genuine machine. And just as it was back then, one of ... [More]
One of the funniest things I’ve ever read on the blogosphere was Kathryn, who smokes, ranting about non-smokers. Others must have found it amusing too, as it was nominated for the Best Post on an Australian Blog for that year. But… I hate smoking. I know the chemicals in tobacco make smoking incredibly addictive for ... [More]
This is the nature strip outside my house. I leave it alone apart from organising to get it mowed every so often. All it gets is (comparatively rare) rain water. It’s lush and green. I don’t know why. This is my front lawn. It gets some greywater, and a regular mowing, but is otherwise left ... [More]
We don’t have the Village Green anymore, but many Australian suburbs do have this: a local cricket oval. In summer the local cricket club will be in residence. About every fortnight there’ll be a game on. I’m not skilled enough to tell who are the locals and who are the visitors, but they frequently show ... [More]
The Daily Show has vanished off SBS again. It’s still on Foxtel’s Comedy Channel (9:30pm nightly). Damn. Given my inherent laziness (I don’t want to bother with torrents), do I have to shell out for Foxtel to be able to watch it? I really don’t want to do that, given the tiny amount of television ... [More]
On Saturday I set off bug bombs around the house. Five of them, one in each major room. Hopefully it would spell armageddon for the cockroaches. Once set, I went for a wander for a couple of hours. Along the way I noted Zagarelli’s, the crap restaurant I once dined at, which then changed its ... [More]
I mean, okay, maybe you need the truck to do whatever work you’re doing in the adjacent shop. But why completely block the footpath with it, forcing people onto the street to get around it? How about finding an actual spot on the street? Irritating enough for able-bodied pedestrians like me. Doubly irritating for people ... [More]
It’s not just about people who stand on the right hand side of escalators. There seem to be lots of pedestrians who, in high-traffic areas, manage to block things up and slow people down. Some — and it’s not just oldsters and tourists — will walk slowly in the middle of a path that fits ... [More]
Wow — a piece in the Good Weekend last week that wasn’t about Barry Humphries. It was about houses being built modelled on Martha Stewart’s homes, apparently being bought by people who have no original ideas for themselves, but trust Martha to design something good. “We’re delighted because we have no vision ourselves and Martha ... [More]
One of my favourite authors is Bill Bryson. I haven’t yet read The Thunderbolt Kid yet (I have a dislike of hardbacks, though I’m currently reading Michael Palin’s diaries in hardback — and loving it). Bryson is touring at the moment, and Jon Faine’s conversation with him last Friday on ABC 774 is available to ... [More]
Was away for the weekend in parts of the world you can only get to by road. 275km covered, which is a lot for me, who rarely drives more than 10 minutes in any direction. Thankfully there were four of us in the car, and the conversation made the driving go so much faster and ... [More]
Yesterday at Fed Square, the white stationwagons were a dead giveaway that the TV guys were around. Sure enough, across the road on Princes Bridge, Ted was fronting the cameras. I got my go a few minutes later. (It was one of those days, if you didn’t know.) In the pack I can see Alan ... [More]
Vale Harry Melbourne, inventor of the Freddo Frog. Maybe I’ll eat one today in his memory. Quote of the day yesterday, first school day of the year: “I can’t believe I’m in Grade 6” — Isaac. (Neither can I, as it happens.)