Avatars
One of the fun things with the Wii is creating your “Mii” — that is, an avatar used in some of the games.
While the kids got busy creating some favourite fictional characters, my avatar looks like me.
Here’s mine, seen in Wii Sports Resort, playing table tennis.
Guitar Hero doesn’t use the standard, cartoon-like Miis, but has its own rock music-oriented avatars. They look more realistic, but despite my efforts, I think this one looks less like me.
What do other people create? Your likeness, or something else?
Tags: avatars, Guitar Hero, Nintendo Wii
3 comments
No, Public transport should not be free
Some people believe public transport should be free. I’m not one of them.
I will admit that twice (so far) this month I’ve taken advantage of the Free Weekend Zone 2 Buses deal. It’s been enjoyable, and fairly relaxing, but only after doing way too much work (more than most normal people would do, I’ll wager) checking timetables and researching alternate routes to avoid the long waits between services.
That’s the real problem holding people back from using PT more often: poor services.
On these free weekends, are the buses more crowded than usual? No. Are the roads less busy? No. Cost is not the main factor here.
As patronage has risen, so has revenue. Across Melbourne, fares are now pulling about $580 million per year — up about 60% in the last 5 years. This in fact disproves a common urban myth — that the revenue only just covers the cost of the ticketing system. Even the astronomical cost of Myki comes out at about $130 million per year (for the first ten years, which includes startup costs; supposedly around $50 million per year after that).
So making it free would mean forgoing hundreds of millions of dollars per year… all money which could have gone into making the system better, which is the real key to getting more people using it.
Now there’s a proposal to make travel within the CBD free. I like that idea even less.
Who would benefit from free CBD travel? The vast bulk of people coming into the CBD do so by PT, thus already have a ticket to travel around the CBD.
The committee used the Government’s Melbourne’s Integrated Transport Model to analyse the benefits of free transport. Results showed free trips would eliminate more than 1500 short car journeys a day, boost tourism spending around the CBD and cut carbon emissions.
Tourists? Sure, a benefit there, but they’re arriving into Melbourne in record numbers — I don’t think the prospect of buying a Daily ticket is holding them back.
Country visitors? If they arrived by train, they already have a ticket they can use in the CBD.
No, the main beneficiaries would be that minority of CBD commuters (19% and dropping), the motorists — the bigwigs and revheads who get in their cars every day, battle it out through the traffic, clogging city streets (and delaying those of us in trams and buses in the process) to park in their company parking spots.
What, and now they want a free tram ride to their luncheon appointment, so they don’t have to pay or walk?
Stuff that.
The trams around the CBD are packed enough as it is, especially at lunchtime. We certainly don’t need to encourage more motorists into the CBD by giving them a free ride once they get there.
- PTUA — Myth: Making public transport free will encourage use
- Fare revenue is shown in Track Record — 40% goes to each of Connex and Yarra Trams
If your team is out, who are you going for?
If your team is out, who are you going for?
First. I’m a Geelong fan, so I’m going for them, of course. Go Cats!
What of the others?
Equal second. I’d have rated the Dogs or the Saints equally. Both underdogs. I have a girlfriend who lives in Footscray, and a good friend who is a big Dogs fan, but I have a sister who goes for the Saints, and I grew up in St Kilda. Since the Saints won last night, they’d be my number two team this Finals season.
Besides, anybody but Collingwood.
Tags: AFL, football
6 comments
Abbey Road remastered
My old school friend Raoul used to say he went into Brashs in Elizabeth Street sometime in the 80s and asked for Abbey Road and was told they didn’t stock reggae. I asked Raoul last week about the new remixed Beatles CDs, and he reckoned don’t bother unless you have a high-end stereo system — which I don’t.
On the other hand, as one of the iPod masses, I listen to a reasonable proportion of my music through earphones, which leaves you hearing more detail.
Anyway… I’m a sucker. When I saw it in JB Hifi for $19.99, I bought the new version of the Abbey Road CD — an album I’ve already owned in two formats (cassette and CD — unlike some other Beatles albums I never bought it on vinyl).
Unlike the old one it comes in one of those awkward cardboard things which makes it so difficult to get the disc out in comparison with the jewel cases that it’s like they’re begging you to put it on your iPod and forget about the CD.
There’s a nice booklet in there.
And the sound? Via headphones at least, it does sound more crisp, really great for a forty-year-old album. You can hear some of the detail of the individual instruments that couldn’t be heard before, such as Ringo’s tambourine on Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. And the spread of instruments between left and right seems more pleasing. I like it.
Some noticeable things on specific tracks:
Come Together — doesn’t sound much different to start with, but the heavy guitar is more heavy.
Oh Darling — a lot more detail from the guitar in the right speaker, and you can hear Paul’s worn-out voice much better.
Octopus’s Garden — this is a long way from being my favourite track, but I’m hearing little flourishes I never noticed before.
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) — the repeating bit at the end seems way “heavier” — dense with sound.
Here Comes The Sun — some interesting synthesiser notes and other sounds that have probably always been there, but are now nicely separated out and distinguishable.
Golden Slumbers — you can hear a lot more feeling in Paul’s voice, particularly in the lines “Golden slumbers fill your eyes / smiles await you when you rise”
The End — lots more detail here, love it. The sudden noise-to-silence cut-off at the end flies from right to left. (OK I checked the old version and it does that too.)
Admittedly some of the difference here will be from intently listening to new version, on the lookout for differences. As well as doing the MP3s from the CD at the highest bitrate possible to make the most of the remastering, rather than the 192 Kbps I usually use.
Will I buy more of them? Probably not — Raoul was right. Mind you, it was enjoyable listening out for all the “new” things I could hear, and I wouldn’t be disappointed if Sgt Pepper or the White Album shows up under the Christmas tree this year.
Tags: Abbey Road, The Beatles
2 comments
M1 blocked, sky falls in
While I realise the shutdown of the M1 eastbound on Tuesday was probably misery for those caught up in it, the lengthy article on it in yesterday’s Age I think vastly overstates the impact. The article basically has the road lobby saying that the whole thing doesn’t work (and the $1.4 billion of improvements won’t last long) and so therefore we should build another one.
Because apparently the solution to something that doesn’t work is to have two of them.
”I have consistently said we can’t into the medium and longer term continue our reliance on the M1. It is an unsustainable reliance,” he [Roads Minister Tim Pallas] said yesterday.
I think it would be more accurate to say that we can’t continue to have thousands upon thousands of individuals each driving alone in a car for long distances around Melbourne. It’s in no way an efficient method of doing things. And they’ll continue to do so until they’re given a time-competitive alternative.
While the government quietly starts building the new road tunnel (claimed to be for freight to the port, but their own artwork gives away that it’s really for city access) and tentatively starts early work on the rail tunnel, they’re neglecting basic public transport service frequency improvements (such as linking two rail lines through the CBD to provide a cross-city route, and boosting frequencies across Melbourne) that would get cars off the road more quickly and cheaper.
Up to 160,000 vehicles a day use the road
…“…when that corridor is closed it doesn’t just impact people travelling on that road, it shuts down Melbourne.” [Peter Daly, RACV]
Both of these can’t be true at the same time.
160,000 vehicles is a tiny proportion of the vehicles in Melbourne.
And how many were actually affected by this incident? Well, if the road is 3-4 lanes in that section, and freeway capacity is 2000 vehicles per hour, and freeway AM peak vehicle occupancy is 1.13, and it was three hours, that’s a maximum of 21,000 vehicles, or 23,730 people. (Someone will point out of my maths is flawed, I hope.)
Which is a lot, but it’s also less then a medium-sized football crowd, and it is plainly not true that it impacts the whole city.
While I’m sure the talkback lines at 3AW were overheating, myself and many others were completely oblivious to it. Central Melbourne was unaffected. It didn’t affect the trains (which bring the majority of people into the city centre). It didn’t affect road traffic on most other routes around Melbourne.
The State Government is spending $1.4 billion upgrading the vital transport link with extra lanes and ramps, but even Pallas admits there is only so much ”sweating the asset” can achieve.
Ah yes, the M1 upgrade which was going to cost a mere billion, and then blew-out by 40%. So now they’re saying that even that huge expense to taxpayers will provide limited benefits.
Even the RACV admitted this last year:
… the RACV dismissed the upgrade as a quick-fix.
“Its life of providing relief is probably only going to last five to 10 years,” public policy general manager Brian Negus said.
– “Traffic on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge slows under heavy load”, Herald Sun, 18/2/2008
In the context they said that, they were asking for yet another freeway to be built, but it appears to be admission that it’s pointless to add road capacity — it attracts more vehicles and fills up again. It’s not like building that capacity on a separate road will magically prevent it filling.
Unless of course they build it, but keep it closed until there’s a blockage elsewhere.
Thankfully in yesterday’s article, Graham Currie of Monash University was there to counter the rev heads:
Ironically, according to Currie, the Government’s massive upgrade of the M1 will not help travel times in the long run because the improved road will be an incentive for more vehicles.
Spot on. Just like, in fact, the previous improvement (known as Citylink) was meant to speed things up, but didn’t.
Trip 1: Oakleigh to the City
Route Travel time
Current [1999] 38 minutes
Future 13 minutes
Save 25 minutesTrip 2: Gladstone Park to MCG
Route Travel time
Current 46 minutes
Future 26 minutes
Save 20 minutesTrip 3: Dandenong to Melbourne Airport
Route Travel time
Current 87 minutes
Future 39 minutes
Save 48 minutes– RACV morning peak predictions for Citylink, then under construction, published in The Age 27/5/1999
Ask a regular motorist if they can drive from Dandenong to the Airport in 39 minutes in peak hour today and they’ll laugh their heads off.
As I post this, about 8am, the VicRoads web site is estimating around 58 minutes for the trip. (Monash inbound 40 + Citylink Western Link outbound 9 + Tullamarine outbound 9). Admittedly there are roadworks going on, but still! And it’s not even the very peak of the peak yet.
It might have been 39 minutes on day one of opening, or perhaps if only those motorists using the road pre-upgrade had been allowed to use it afterwards. But that’s not how things work. New trips are attracted, and it clogs up again.
And I come back to my point: the best way to get the M1 running smoothly is to give as many car drivers as possible a fast, frequent public transport alternative.
(Pic: Herald Sun)
Tags: Citylink, M1, RACV
11 comments
Regards or Cheers?
Lifehacker on signing-off emails: The Yanks might think “Cheers” is too “mock-Brit”, but Australians are comfortable with it.
Personally I use Cheers on most. Regards on formal stuff. Or nothing when I’m talking to a regular correspondent and am in a hurry and/or on a mobile.
An older Lifehacker article noted “Best” was awkward. I hate “Best”. What does it even mean? Best what? Maybe in American English it has some inherent meaning, but to me just reads like it means “Best regards” but that the sender is too damn lazy to type “regards”… in which case it’s not really best, is it.
And starting off emails? I often say “Hi X,”. Some others say just “X,” then go on with the message, which I think sounds a little curt, but I guess it isn’t, as plenty of people, even those I know well and get along with famously, use it.
Tags: email
11 comments
CFLs
Lights again.
I seem to have reached the point where the first of my compact fluorescent light globes are starting to be replaced.
Many of them I installed about two years ago, and most in the house are still going strong.
The three that have expired get switched on generally for only short periods of time, which Wikipedia notes can cut the lifespan drastically, and says:
The US Energy Star program says to leave them on at least 15 minutes at a time to mitigate this problem.
I wonder if those ones should be replaced with conventional bulbs, while they’re still available? In the supermarket it appears the range has been radically reduced since I last bought any, with an “efficient” range of Phillips incandescent bulbs pretty much the only ones left in Safeway, probably reflecting stricter rules on light globe importation and power consumption.
Another CFL that is still working, but is showing signs of wearing-out, is in the hallway outside the kids’ bedroom, and gets left on at night. Given the number of hours it’s spent switched-on (I estimate something like 4600 hours so far) that’s pretty impressive.
What to do with the CFLs once used? It’s generally known that they have a small amount of mercury in them, and therefore ideally shouldn’t end up in landfill. Reality seems to be rather different though — when I rang the council about it, they said they know of no special arrangements for them. Hmm.
As with traffic lights, hopefully domestic lighting will move towards LEDs, which not only use less power, they don’t have the short usage problems, and nor do they (as far as I know) require special methods of disposal.
Update 12:20pm. Clarified that some Phillips incandescent globes still available in Safeway.
Tags: CFLs, light bulbs
12 comments
LED traffic lights
If you’ve wondered about the LEDs being increasingly used for traffic lights, apparently they use 60% less energy.
They also last about ten times longer than conventional bulbs. I assume the design, which includes a whole bunch of individual LEDs, also allows for some redundancy, so some can fail but the entire light doesn’t stop working.
Fascinating stuff, huh?
