Some unsung blogs I read
Thanks in part to Google Reader and the miracle of RSS feeds, I read way more blogs than I post comments on. I do leave some comments, but I just don’t have the time to properly have a blog.conversation on all the posts I read.
I try to bear in mind the XKCD cartoon: “Someone is wrong on the Internet” — sure, if you want to discuss and debate anything, there’s no shortage of places to do so. But if you contribute to them all you’d be at the computer all day and all night doing it.
So you (and indeed the writers) of some blogs might never know that I enjoy them. This post is to make amends for that. Here are ten of my favourite blogs that I rarely or never comment on:
- Highriser — some great perspectives on Melbourne life
- Jayne’s Our Great Southern Land, highlighting Australian history
- I Started Something — the influential Long Zheng, from somewhere down near Hastings on the Mornington peninsula, stirring up the Windows world with observations, particularly on forthcoming releases
- Overheard in Melbourne quotes many of my fellow Melburnians and the amusing things they say. I particularly liked the one today: Like…my brother has this livejournal thing, and there’s a group he’s a part of, all about embarassing things people say, and how other people overhear them and post them on the internet. He reads them to me sometimes – some of them are really bad! And, like, I’m always afraid someone is going to hear me saying something dumb, and put it up there and he’ll realise it was me. Oh my god. What if I’m already on there??!!
- Ed Bott has his own blog and one on ZD Net has a constant stream of opinion and advice on PCs
- James’ Chaucery blog highlights little factoids, and is what inspired me to do those little graphs that pop up occasionally
- Kensington Victoria is random topics, often funny, from some bloke in Kensington
- Coding Horror is a well-known programmer’s blog from Jeff Atwood, who has some incredible insights into the lives of professional geeks like me
- Transport Textbook has a lot of interesting (at least to me) articles on transport (specifically public transport) theory.
- For some reason I find the Washington Post’s Get There blog equally interesting. I’ve never been to DC, I don’t even know that much about the geography or politics involved, but it seems they have some similar problems in transport to Melbourne, with congested roads, crowded trains and buses, and disruptions from time to time causing havoc. I wonder if one of the daily papers here would take up something similar — I might suggest it. They do seem to be able to illicit a more forthright response than is often seen here, though the Leader blogs with people like John Rees from Connex and Darren Peters from the South Morang Rail Alliance may be showing the way.
I wouldn’t expect everybody to read what I read, given some of them are specific to my interests.
I read (and like) a lot of other blogs, and specifically excluded those written by my friends and acquaintances (hello to Tony, Trish, Ren, Kathy and all the rest of you), as I’m sure they know I’m reading, even if I don’t comment often.
At some stage I should go through the links on my own blog’s margin and update them to something closer to this list.
What other unsung blogs are there out there?
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Have you ever been to Unknown LineID [11]?
“Change here for Unknown LineID [11].”
![Change here for Unknown LineID [11]](/images/2008/1119-train-sign1.jpg)
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Unknown LineID [11]. It sounds like a delightful part of the world.
To my surprise, it didn’t happen just once.
![Change here for Unknown LineID [9]](/images/2008/1119-train-sign2.jpg)
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CO2 isn’t so bad
A full-page advert for the coal industry in The Age caught my eye the other day. I just love this bit (quoted here from their web site):
Carbon dioxide in our daily lives
Carbon dioxide itself is not a danger in our everyday lives. In fact, all life on the planet depends on carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also used in many everyday activities. For example, carbon dioxide is used:
- for the bubbles in your beer or soft drink
- to decaffeinate coffee
- in fire extinguishers
- to make ‘dry ice’
- to create the ‘fog’ effect in concerts, theatres and on movie sets
- in welding, sandblasting and construction
- to make flavour additives for food
- as a propellant in aerosol cans
Next time you drink a beer or soft drink, remember that the bubbles came from a natural underground source of carbon dioxide. Geosequestration is the same process, just in reverse.
See? CO2 isn’t so bad. More CO2 for everybody!
Of course they don’t literally claim CO2 is good, or that climate change doesn’t exist. No no, that would flag them as skeptics. But they are trying to flag themselves as good guys. They’re trying to flag themselves as 21st century (“New Gen Coal“) rather than a polluting dinosaur industry from the 19th.
And they’re trying to claim that clean coal is the answer… Of course clean coal, when it all comes down to it, isn’t actually developed enough yet to be viable — and may never be.
Next thing you know they’ll be making TV adverts like this:
(Yeah, I’ve posted that video before. It’s still great.)
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It’s all in the timing
Back in the old house in Ames Avenue, the “central bathroom” was down the back of the house, next to the kitchen. The spot where the microwave oven lived was only about 3 metres from the shower. And the microwave we had at the time included a countdown timer. So when water restrictions came in and everyone was encouraged to have four minute showers, we were sorted: the microwave counter would be set to four minutes, the showerer would jump in, and a beep would go off when the time was up.
This winning combination was lost when everything changed.
Since moving (I can’t believe it’s over three years ago now), the kitchen is further from the bathroom. The microwave got upgraded to a model I didn’t choose, which has no countdown timer. We got a kitchen timer, but it’s useless for showering because it doesn’t beep just once when it reaches zero, it keeps beeping. And in fact after about ten seconds, the steady constant beep (which is annoying enough) gets really shrill and urgent (and thus even more annoying).
That’s no good for the shower; you’d (a) kill yourself trying to get to it to press the button to switch it off, and (b) get water into the works, breaking it.
The microwave shares similar beeping attributes. It beeps when it’s finished cooking. Then if you don’t attend to it, it beeps again after about a minute. It keeps doing it.
Both the microwave and the timer thus nark me somewhat. BLOODY MACHINE, I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME. I’M BUSY DOING SOMETHING ELSE. JUST SHUT UP, I’LL GET TO YOU IN A MINUTE.
So anyway, with no effective shower timer, I’d noticed everyone’s showers getting a little longer. Not super-excessive — the water bill still indicates we’re pretty damn water-efficient — but certainly longer than four minutes.
Then I spotted a deal for a free shower timer in the newspaper. Just go to their web site and fill in your details and they’ll send it to you. (It has to be a Victorian address.)
Fantastic! I filled it in.
A few days later it arrived in the post.
It’s an hour glass. Well, a four-minute-glass, to be precise.
Ahh. This is not quite what I had in mind. I’m not saying it won’t work, but I had foolishly assumed it’d be some kind of electronic beeping device. You know, that gives you an audible alarm.
Obviously an hour glass has to be watched. Whether that’ll work for people or not, I don’t know. I guess we’ll give it a try and see what happens.
If it’s no good, I’ll seek out an electronic one. Though I won’t go to the extremes of this device, which actually stops the water.
(For my future reference: These are for $20 — but need to make sure they beep only once!)
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Only $330 million?
From Hansard — Public transport: automatic ticketing
I refer the Minister for Transport to his statement in today’s Herald Sun newspaper that:
“Perhaps with 20/20 hindsight we may have tackled things in another way and not signed a contract for a system that had not been trialled anywhere else in the world.”
Given this extraordinary admission of failure, whom does the minister hold responsible for this $330-million fiasco? Is it the Premier, is it the Treasurer, or is it the former transport minister, who is now comfortably ensconced in the Agent-General’s office in London?
– John Brumby, then leader of the opposition, Questions without Notice, 18/11/1997
Only $330 million? Sounds like a bargain next to Myki, which is costing $494 million plus operating costs = $1.35 billion.
…
PS. A figure from the Opposition in today’s Herald Sun claiming the $3.3m fit-out of the Department of Transport offices would have bought three trains appears to me to be inaccurate. In 2002, 58 3-car trains cost $332m, or $5.7m each. Also, it appears to be implying the money was spent at Nauru House — I though most of the bureaucrats had moved out of there to the SX Building next door, though some may remain.
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Half-finished posts
It’s time for a clearout.
Here’s a bunch of posts I wrote but never got around to posting. In some cases I intended to research them a bit more before publishing, so beware they may be a little half-arsed.
Backwards
There were claims and counter-claims during the Kororoit byelection campaign (June 2008). I suppose Les Twentyman was unlikely to get up, given it’s such a strong Labor seat, but you’ve got to wonder about some of the accusations flying around.
The Libs gave Twentyman their preferences. Twentyman gave his preferences to Labor.
Brumby’s translation of this: Asked how he could say a vote for Mr Twentyman was a vote for the Liberals, Mr Brumby said: “Because if his (primary) vote is higher than the Liberal Party vote, he has every chance of being elected courtesy of Liberal Party preferences.”
So in fact, it’s not that a vote for Twentyman was a vote for the Liberals. It was the opposite. A vote for the Liberals was a vote for Twentyman.
Is your patent scalable?
I’m wondering if we should re-design the patent system worldwide, to consider:
- Is the invention scalable? If it spreads worldwide, what are the consequences? For instance, does it pollute in a way that doesn’t matter for a single unit, but which causes big problems if there are millions?
- What is the ultimate likely market size for the invention?
How would you enforce it? How about making the patent run out when 20% of your expected total units have been made?
Apple vs Microsoft
Apparently Microsoft’s Vista advertising is costing US$300 million.
Apple’s latest advert pokes fun at this, but I wonder how much their campaign has cost?
Stupidly, Apple’s web site doesn’t let PC owners who don’t have Quicktime even see the adverts. Way to miss your target market, dudes.
Beds
A theory of mine: It’s only an extreme pessimist or a monk who as an adult chooses to sleep in a single bed.
Not a futurist
Joel Spolsky proves I’m not the only one who thought eBay was a dumb idea.
Not news
Sadly we’re getting to the point where American mass shootings are no longer news. They’re happening with depressing regularlity, but outside the US I suspect most of us are at the point where we roll our eyes at their gun laws and get on with our day.
The Bulletin
The Bulletin closed after 128 years of publishing. Not that I ever read it, except when in the barber’s shop waiting for a haircut, but they did talk to me for an in-depth piece on blogging a few years ago (which would have made a good cite for the unsubstantiated claim in Wikipedia that my blog is one of the oldest around).
Location
Why do some people pay over the odds to live in areas with good public transport, then not use it?
In the case of home-owners, I guess because they know it’s a better investment.
Though I once met a bloke living a stone’s throw away from Glenhuntly station in a rented flat who appeared to drive everywhere.
Spending
Sometimes one has real hope for the world. Sometimes not:
The world spends US$780 billion every year on maintaining its military and buying new weapons —that’s $2.1 billion every day. Dr Oscar Arias estimates that if just 5% ($40 billion) of that annual $780 billion were channeled into anti-poverty programmes over the next decade, the whole world could have basic social services. A further 5% over ten years could provide everybody on the planet with an income above the poverty line. UNICEF estimates that spending just $7 billion a year for the next decade could educate every child on Earth. — Source (via Cam)
Getting old
Maybe I’m thinking about this too much, but I’m increasingly aware of getting old, and I wonder if those who share my Gen-X status are thinking about it too. And Tony’s foot incident a while back reminds me that it’s no more obvious than when I consider my general physical and mental fitness: I’d swear my typing is slowing down. My mouse hand hurts sometimes. At one stage I noticed my right knee hurts like hell if I kneel down on it for too long. And jeez… the grey hair!
When did this happen? Is it the start of a long slow descent into old age, or are there things I should be doing to keep up my level of fitness? My usual answer is “More walking!” which I’m determined to do anyway, but I wonder what else.
Perhaps I should go ask the doctor for a complete physical.
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Chestnuts
Not as in-your-face as the charity muggers waiting on street corners with clipboards are the roasted chestnut stands around town.
But does anybody actually buy them? Particularly now the warm weather’s arrived, I can’t imagine many people buying them, but even in winter I never seem to see them have any customers whatsoever.
I hope the sellers aren’t on commission.
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Movember is here
I was planning on doing Movember this year, but other events in October left me all disorganised (well, more than usual) and I didn’t sign up.
For those who are overseas or have otherwise not heard of Movember, it’s a fundraiser. Blokes are clean shaven at the start, but don’t shave their moustaches for the month. Money raised goes to men’s health.
It turns out several people I know are doing Movember, so here’s a plug for them:
- Stewart, a former work colleague
- Lucien, who I went to school with, way back when
- Cam, who is neither a former colleague nor an old school friend
- Jason, from the PTUA committee
It’s a good cause, and I don’t want to show favouritism, so as soon as pay day comes around, I’ll throw each of them $20.
(Mind you, so far Stewart is the most diligent at posting update pictures. Hint. Hint.)
PS. Another one just showed up: Andy, who does my gardening
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