Oh. Just found this rather similar picture from 1997 to compare to:

Dear Daniel Davidson Bowen aged 9,

Re: your comments:

cancel this website i’m daniel bowen age nine and my birthday is pon july 21 you idiot
– Comment by daniel davidson bowen — Wed 29 June 2005 @ 18:56

i hate you i am daniel bowen
– Comment by daniel davidson bowen — Wed 29 June 2005 @ 18:57

get lost and give me this website to me iam only a kid and need MONEY so gimme
– Comment by daniel davidson bowen — Wed 29 June 2005 @ 18:59

hi its me i want this web
– Comment by daniel davidson bowen — Wed 29 June 2005 @ 19:06

Welcome to danielbowen.com.

My name is Daniel Francis Bowen.

There are lots of Daniel Bowens.

You can’t have my web site. I got here first.

Get your own, somewhere else.

A mass of bodies. Up close. Pushing together. We move as one.

Moving faster… faster… don’t stop, we’re almost there…

Man this train is crowded.

Update 9pm: Rather too prophetic. An incident at South Yarra concerning a “trespasser” at about 5pm delayed a whole bunch of trains by 20+ minutes, resulting in more sardine-like conditions. Not a good week for Connex.

Here is my rather nice new (rather expensive) suit, seen over a startlingly bright red shirt I bought recently. (Rather more RED than I saw in the shop, admittedly.)

What clothing have you bought recently? Leave a comment or a trackback.

The Essential Services Commission draft decision on power prices wants price cuts to electricity. Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? Provide more concessions to those on low incomes, sure, but across the board price cuts? How is that meant to encourage people to use less power?

Remember, the bulk of our power if coming from the filthy Hazelwood brown coal power plant. Maybe the billion dollars the ESC wants to cut from the power stations’ infrastructure budget should be put towards cutting emissions by replacing or improving Hazelwood?

In 2003, Environment Victoria said a 5-year expansion of Hazelwood would create 85 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution, the equivalent of putting an extra twenty MILLION cars on the road. A more recent assessment makes this comparison: the annual greenhouse gas savings from more energy efficient houses statewide is cancelled out by Hazelwood from just one week of operations.

So I was on my way home last night, after a lovely day and doing the grocery shopping. A closed road and a detour on the way, but I manage to find my way around that.

I decide since it’s quiet at the local petrol station, I’ll fill up.

Is Sunday night the cheapest time to buy petrol? I don’t know. I’m a little sensitive to the prices, but mostly it’s a time/convenience thing. I don’t really know how it measures up against other people, but I don’t do a huge amount of driving, and I only have to fill up every 2-3 weeks. (Likewise the 10,000km/6 monthly service invariably happens only about once a year.) A 5 cent per litre difference on a 50 litre tank is only $2.50, not really worth worrying about for me. I’d rather spend a bit more than have to queue 10 minutes for petrol on a slightly cheaper day.

Anyway I fill up with petrol and pay, then since the air thingy isn’t being used, decide I’ll check the tyres. Sunday night and I’m getting tired, but it should only take a minute.

Set the electronic air gizmo to 31. Check tyre 1. Have to fiddle with nozzle to get it to stick, but it works. Psssssh. Beep beep beep 31.

Check tyre 2. Fiddle with nozzle. Not working. C’mon you bloody thing. Fiddle some more. Not working. Fiddle with nozzle, put it back on tyre valve. Pull it off. Very loud hssssssssss — sound of much air escaping. Arghh! Put nozzle back on valve. Gizmo not responding. Take off… more loud hissing.

Oh terrific. So I’m standing at a petrol station on a freezing cold Sunday night with a full tank, loads of groceries in the boot, and my right front tyre is rapidly deflating. What the hell do I do? Just let it deflate, then try and fit the spare? I’ve been shown how to fit a tyre (thanks Steve), but I’m really not looking forward to the time I have to do it for myself. Maybe I’ll just ring the RACV. I really wish I’d waited for another day to try and do this. I’d really like to be at home right now.

Thankfully a little more fiddling got the tyre pumping up okay. I was then brave enough to do the other two tyres (yes, after all that I forgot to check the spare) and left, eager to get home before anything else bad happened.

This note on my windscreen this morning:

Dear whoever you are,

Tell you what, I’ll do you a couple of favours.

Firstly I won’t park in front of your house anymore. It’s not that appealing anyway. I don’t know what the hell you’ve done to your nature strip, which resembles an overgrown miniature botanic gardens, but it makes life difficult for my passenger to alight from my car. So I’ll park 3 metres forward or back from now on.

Secondly, I’ll explain the parking rules on this street. The signs are pretty clear: It’s one-hour parking from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and on Saturdays between 9am and 1pm. That’s all. Other than that, it’s a free-for-all. Anybody from anywhere can park here. It matters not a jot that it’s in front of your house and your weed colony.

If you want to get the spot in front of your house restricted, talk to your local council. You probably have a gnat’s chance in hell, but if you’re really lucky, they might decide your request is worthy, and make it permit parking. Mind you I bet they’d love to take a look at that nature strip.

Please do let me know if you get so outraged with someone parking there that you call the police. I’d really love to know what they say.

I was moseying around the innanet the other day and came across this:

Did it ever occur to you that in our Bowen blood there is something of rashness. I see it in myself and my brothers. We tend to be radicals. I am not going back on that tendency. It is good only it needs to be balanced and its promptings need to be held in check.
– Daniel Bowen (1831-1907) of Jacksonville, Florida, writing to his son, Carroll on 25th April 1888

It makes me think I should really research my own family history a bit more — both Bowens and non-Bowens.