“Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them.” — Aaron Sorkin (creator of the West Wing) I don’t know if the people who leave comments here necessarily disagree with me, but they do seem to be pretty smart. Over the past week I’ve learnt of ... [More]
The Rugby State of Origin game was last night. You can tell the tourists are in town, from the number of cars with interstate numberplates rolling unwittingly down Swanston Street Walk, and the confused questions on the tram about using the ticket machines, and getting to St Kilda Beach. Oh yeah, I just got a ... [More]
Stephen J Dubner writes on the Freakonomics blog: He [Warren Buffett] was explaining why he wanted to give so much money [US$31 billion] to a foundation that mainly tries to alleviate poverty. Ă¢ââÂŹĂ âA market system has not worked in terms of poor people,Ă¢ââÂŹĂ Buffett said. Coming from Buffett, this statement isnĂ¢ââââ¢t much of a shock. ... [More]
A new era has dawned in the City of Glen Eira. New recycle bins, with bright yellow lids, have been distributed (originally with crime-scene-style “Do not use until July” tape on them), and yesterday the new recycle truck did its first fortnightly run down our street. There are three bits of good news associated with ... [More]
Today is Independence From MainStream Media day. I appreciate the sentiments, but I’m not joining in. I do read my fair share of blogs and other non-MSM, but fundamentally I want to know what’s going on in politics and world events, and that’s something I can’t get reliably from anywhere but the MSM. (Besides, I ... [More]
An article in Saturday’s Age mentioned a UN International Energy Agency study that said if every old light globe was replaced by an energy-efficient one, it would save 16,000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the next 25 years — the equivalent to taking every car in the world off the road for six ... [More]
It’s just about dinner time. I’ve been attempting (for the first time) to cook a beef stew, a meal designed and built around the half-a-bottle of red wine I had left over from Friday. It’s been slowly cooking for about six hours or so, and I’m getting very hungry. Here’s what my (ancient) stove looks ... [More]
VicRoads web site: Footscray road (Docklands Hwy) west bound lanes at Appleton Dock road/West Melbourne VicRoads advises there is currently a Police Road Closure on the Footscray road (Docklands Hwy) west bound lanes at Appleton Dock road, West Melbourne. Traffic is being diverted at Appleton Dock road to Coode road back onto Footscray road. The ... [More]
What’s with all the lime green being used in corporate colours nowadays? Did Boost Juice start that trend? Is it the power colour for 2006? Other sightings: The CD case for iPod Shuffle; Australian Tax Pack 2006.
Now for a bit of controversy. I really enjoy doing footy tipping, and indeed watching it can be quite entertaining. Love a bit of kick-to-kick in the park. But footy, for real? Nup. I reckon it’s a mug’s game(*). As much as I might make fun of the Americans and their super-armour-padded version of football, ... [More]
(This is a second go at this picture, which didn’t quite get the long row of cabs I’d been hoping for. I can probably find longer if I try.) PS. Maybe I have a fascination for pictures of rows of things. Like garbage bins.
The bigwigs in retailing have talked about this for ages. Last week I tried out the funky new self-checkout computermachines at Big W at QV. Why queue to have someone serve you, when you can serve yourself? It’s a bit like a combination of using one of those price checker scanner things, and an ATM. ... [More]
The other day I found a coathanger sitting on top of the hedge at the front of my house. Not one of those wire coathangers used by drycleaners, but a metal and plastic one like you might get when you buy a coat. Perfect condition. Odd place to find such a thing, I thought. Attempted ... [More]
I might not have blogged about it, but I’ve had dreams before about having to be somewhere semi-unexpectedly, and running late. Last night’s was that (matching reality) I had to be somewhere today by 11am, out of my usual routine. In the dream, I woke and found every single clock in the house not working ... [More]
It was the winter solstice on Wednesday, and there’s been cold weather to match it this week. In Australia, we claim winter starts on the 1st of June. In many other countries, they say it starts on the solstice. By my reckoning, being the shortest day, it should actually be the middle of winter. I ... [More]
As a parent, I know one of the worst things is unwanted parenting advice. As such, it’s generally a topic of conversation I avoid like the plague — even in my blog when it’s directed at nobody in particular. But this has been bugging me, so just this once I will offer my opinion on ... [More]