You might think you’re the customer at the supermarket, but actually supermarkets make most of their money by selling shelf space to manufacturers. They are the real customers. You might think you’re the customer when you buy a newspaper or watch the TV, but the media make their money by delivering viewers/readers to the advertisers. ... [More]
You have to feel some pity for the Australian morning daily papers. All this World Cup excitement, including a game last night won by Australia, but the lead times to get their newspaper onto peoples front lawns by breakfast time means they can’t report the results. They try and make up for it, but there’s ... [More]
“In the mansion of life, we can’t all be the state bedroom. Someone’s gotta be the outside bog, and that’s you!” — Vince, in Pratt Outta Hell, by Ben Elton I wonder how many people are happy with the job they’re in, and how many are just killing time/earning some bucks while they work towards ... [More]
Here is a combined list of my most played 21 songs from both my home PC/iPod, and work PC. I’ve listed 21 (rather than 20) because I’m going to assume the top one is some kind of computer glitch, since there’s no way I’ve listened to that song more than a couple of times since ... [More]
The Howard government is doing it again. It’s just like the republic debate all over again. Back then it was not Do you want a republic, it was Do you want a republic with a Prez replacing Her Maj and the GG, appointed by a two-thirds majority of parliament. This time the energy inquiry being ... [More]
I had to have a fix. It had been weeks. I have found a source, a legal source, but it’s expensive. Amid stories of black market bananas, I can reveal that I had three bananas in my house this week. Don’t bother trying to break-in now to steal them; they’ve been eaten. These were decently-sized ... [More]
Hands up who has private health insurance and understands how their fund works? I have it (to avoid the extra government slug if I don’t) and I hate it. I have no idea how it all works. I’ve just pared back the coverage because I was getting little benefit from the hefty (and ever-increasing) premiums ... [More]
Happy 6/6/6. The early morning noises in the roof have been back, a regular fixture at about 4am most mornings in the last couple of weeks. Is it a possum? A rat? I don’t know, but some mornings it’s scurrying around and making scratching noises in the wall between my bedroom and the bathroom, up ... [More]
Spotted this parking restriction sign in Elsternwick. My question is this: How is it possible to over-stay the four hour limit between 8am and 12 noon on a Saturday? Why did they even bother restricting the parking on Saturdays? So I thought that was pretty silly. Until I saw this one around the corner from ... [More]
Just before the Games, the powers-that-be replaced rubbish bins at the city loop underground stations plus Flinders Street, Richmond and North Melbourne, with big plastic transparent things. For security, y’know. So you can see any suspicious packages that get dropped in, and panic appropriately. But at nearby South Yarra station, which is probably busier than ... [More]
Evidently at the school they’re considering a ban on A pinch and a punch for the first of the month due to some over-enthusiasm from some of the older kids when pinching and punching. Not to mention the invention by somebody of A kick in the dick for the first of the month…
Yeah, I’m mulling over my travel patterns to the nth degree again. This week’s question: When to replace a car? Josh pointed me to a discussion about when one should dump an old car and buy a new (or less-old) one. The short answer appears to be: it varies (obviously). Factors include the costs involved ... [More]
If there’s one thing I hope to instil into my kids, it’s not to be sheep. This means not assuming everything they hear is true; thinking for themselves; not believing the spin. Questioning and challenging authority where it is appropriate. Not following the trends blindly. (Maybe I can avoid them getting hooked on the teenybopper ... [More]
Crash — Superb drama. More than a little unsettling at times, but not a total depressionfest. Some Pulp Fictionesque dialogue and interconnecting story threads that reminded me a bit of Lantana. Nobody really gets off scott-free in this movie, and it really makes the point that none of us is totally good, or totally bad. ... [More]
Unbelievably, just hours after lamenting with Marita about how some of us in the Bowen family are prone to upset tummies, I felt the same myself. The Bowen belly had struck yet again, though not as badly as some other times. This comes after my sister and her toddler were struck down with something last ... [More]
Holeproof brand socks aren’t really holeproof. They get holes just as much as any other brand of sock. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve done something of a purge of socks with holes in the toes. I had plenty, and I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them were Holeproof brand. I didn’t ... [More]