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 putting it into iTunes…

There’s a fair bit of OCS on there, probably because when it’s too noisy in the office, I tend to turn to that to drown things out a bit. “July” in particular is good for out-louding the nearby photocopier/printer thing when it’s going full-pelt.

I might note that when I listen to complete albums around the house, I tend to still get the CD out.

If you want to join in and post your list on your blog, make sure your iTunes is synced with your iPod, then sort by Play Count, and do File / Export Song List, which you can export to a text file from which you can chop out the info you want to post.

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 set up is not How can we satisfy our energy requirements cleanly and cheaply, it’s Can we go nuclear?

Is it too much to ask to approach these questions without a predetermined outcome in mind?

Apparently, yes.

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 bananas (not the tiny weedy ones you see in some of the few shops that have them), but they ain’t cheap. At $12.99 per kilo, the three I had set me back $9.

But sometimes you’ve just got to treat the family.

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 I was paying… the plan I was on had various extras that made it totally impossible to understand, let alone be able to claim all that was owing.

When I changed it the guy on the phone said there was up to $900 of benefits sitting in my account unclaimed; that it could be claimed to cover recent dental costs. I had no idea. Why didn’t they just pay that as part of the claim when I was at the dentist, rather than waiting for me to realise, then go claim it separately?

Or maybe they hoped I’d never find out, just like the new 30% tax rebate on child care that I just found out about. (Yeah, good luck finding all the receipts going back to July 2004.)

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 towards the ceiling. Have a listen, see what you think.

• Mystery guest sounds (MP3, 99Kb, 12 seconds)

I’ll be going up into the ceiling to take a look, just as soon as I can get hold of a ladder big enough. (I’ve been meaning to buy one for some other little jobs.)

Update Wednesday 8am. I think I agree with the bulk of the commenters… probably a rat. Question is, why the song-and-dance at 4am every morning?

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 it:

I think someone at the local council needs to a little maths lesson.

Still not as bad as the speed limit signs though, I reckon.

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 North Melbourne, they still have the old insecure metal bins. And the shiny new Spencer Street Southern Cross Station has got metal bins too.

Are the South Yarra and Spencer Street people less of a target than those at North Melbourne? Or more expendable? I dunno.

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…