I was watching an episode of the West Wing last night where one of the characters sees the body of a homeless man. And I recalled something I saw years ago. I was on a train going to work out in Burwood, standing by the door. Mine was the next stop. There was an announcement ... [More]
The defective yearly
Today I went and got my defective Yearly Metcard ticket replaced. It stopped working a couple of weeks ago, after only 5 months, and I’ve finally got sick of having to find a human to get through the fare gates. To get it replaced, you have to go to Flinders Street Station, find the door ... [More]
My Lego creation
My Lego creation from yesterday: (Captain) Jack Stone aboard the StrangeMobile. It’s got a battery pack and motor, and yes, it really moves.
The art of photography
Isaac’s a little unwell, so I’m at home today. I was clicking around one of the real estate web sites, when I came across this superb example of great real estate photography. Funny angle, thumb in the way… weren’t digital cameras meant to solve these kinds of issues?
Fiddling with formats
After trying to stuff the Business section into its main News pages, and apparently getting flayed for it, The Age has now tried to stuff the Metro section in there instead. They say that Metro readers were sick of looking through the Sport section to find it. That’s probably true, but will they be any ... [More]
Yesterday, Isaac, Jeremy, Marita, Adrian and myself piled into the car to head for the snow at Lake Mountain. It took about an hour to get past the Edge Of Known Suburbia (Lilydale), then about another hour via Healesville (quick rest stop) and Marysville to the slopes. Not as much snow present as last time, ... [More]
Innocence lost
Right now, innocence is being taken by faceless government bureaucrats. The Age: Back at school after being illegally detained Immigration officers arrived unannounced at Stanmore Public School in March and removed Ian Hwang, then 11, and his six-year-old Australian-born sister Janey, after their Korean mother was arrested arriving at Sydney Airport with a false passport. ... [More]
Pointless promotions
I see a fair number of product promotions at Parliament station in the mornings. Yesterday they were giving out Lipton Chai tea, which was very nice. This morning though, an interesting one: a promotion for A2 “double quality” paper. I think that was the brand name — obviously their promotional guys have let them down ... [More]
Becoming a humourless old git
I was having a chat to my friend Stewart. He and his mate Joe have just launched a web site to go with their band, Joey Stew. They’ve got some downloadable samples of their songs on the site, so check it out, it’s funny stuff. But one lesson I’ve learnt over the years is to ... [More]
Seconds from death!
Some people really manage to re-define “bloody idiot”. As we were walking on Saturday afternoon, a tray truck with those stupidly big tyres came around the corner and along the opposite side of the road. He must have taken the corner too fast (from a standing start mind you), and was skidding all over the ... [More]
A couple of weeks ago we were having dinner on a Saturday night in Bourke Street. Something was wrong, and we remarked as such: it was about 7pm and Gaslight Music wasn’t open. For years, Gaslight has been a haven in the eastern end of the city, particularly when waiting to meet someone on a ... [More]
Reloading the pod
After living for some time with my iPod only holding a dozen or so of my favourite CDs (plus that great Billy Bragg paid concert download), I’ve finally embarked on loading everything up, in alphabetical order. So far I’m up to B. Thus my iPod currently has an inordinate amount of Area 7, Bragg and ... [More]