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This NYE, I’m not out and about. So instead, amidst the chaos and heat of today, here are some random thoughts (including some attempted ideas for blog posts during the year that never got past embryo stage).
I’ve seen two Dymocks bags disintegrate after being kept for a few months. It’s great that they biodegrade rapidly, but don’t try and reuse them for long-term storage.
Why do some people turn on their indicators way too early before making their turn; in some cases before the street before the one they’re going to turn into?
Likewise, how do some people leave their hazard lights flashing as they drive down the road? Do they not hear the click… click… click?
Why do a few people run along the platform after the train’s stopped, to choose the optimum door, even when it’s not crowded? Even when it’s a newer model train where you can easily switch carriages? Just get on board, we’re late already!
That some people sit in their car, parked, with the engine running and the aircon on, on a 20-25 degree day, is a sign that petrol is still too cheap.
Why do some people pay over the odds to live in areas with good public transport, then never use it? (Because no matter how they travel, they know such properties are better investments, that’s why.)
What gives? “Safe” brand recycled tissues have returned to the supermarkets… just as the “Naturale” recycled brand of napkins has vanished! Why do we get the choice of either/or, not both?
Ian Henderson is very straight-faced on the ABC TV news. But his appearances on ABC radio 774 at about 5:45pm each weeknight are a stark contrast… there’s humour, comment, opinion… everything you don’t get from him at 7pm.
Someone told me this at dinner the other night, and Wikipedia confirms it: The countries that have not adopted the Metric system are: Liberia, Myanmar and the United States.
That’s all for now. Happy New Year.
Manchester Lane, four years later. She looked about the same. Some bloke on her arm. Both smiling.
Don’t know if she noticed me noticing her as we passed. Didn’t say anything, just kept walking.
Glad she seems happy. Me too.
PS. It was an ex, not the ex.
A little kid (maybe 3 or 4) had come off his scooter, in the school playground. He was sprawled on the ground, crying. Somewhere, his parent was seeing off an older sibling. I looked around, but couldn’t see an obvious candidate.
Before I could see if he was okay, a bigger kid with a Grade 6 shirt on reached him and helped him up, looking him over. “You’re okay” he said softly. “You’re all right.”
The crying seemed to drop to a quiet whimper, the little kid got up, and the bigger one glanced around for the youngster’s parent, as a couple of other concerned kids looked on. They seemed to have the situation under control, so I walked on.
Kids at the school are used to dealing others outside their own age group — they have a “buddy” system where grade 5s and 6s team up with Preps. Seeing things like this, the benefits are pretty obvious, though I once encountered a kid from another school, on the train, trying to explain the concept to his cranky grandmother, who was the epitome of cynical. I hope we don’t all get like that as we grow older.
But seeing this kind of thing happen gives you hope for the human race.
Given the risks some highway charity collectors seem to take dodging cars, I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever see them collecting for injured highway charity collectors.
Has anybody published a book listing 1001 “1001 things” books you must read before you must die?
I just got asked if my History of the World is accurate enough for a uni assignment. Hmmm. Well most of the dates are reliable enough, but the facts have been changed around a fair bit for laughs… I’d imagine most people would want to check it against something a tad more authoritative.
There’s a lot of great comments that present themselves from readers on this site. Allegedly in the innanet industry this is what the marketing types call user-generated content or some such. Whatever, but it shows what highly intelligent people you all are.
My old school mate KTK remarks that obscure names are an advantage for being found in Google (and I suppose being able to obtain your own name.com like I have). The Age this week noted a private investigator who advises the opposite: “Change your name to something generic” if you don’t want to be found.
Susze comments on people who work in shops saying “You right there?” When I worked in a shop, I’d vary between “Can I help you?” and “Are you right there?” to stave off boredom from saying the same thing repeatedly, and depending on how much I felt like serving the person (including whether or not they looked like they knew what they were doing, finding what they wanted).
Philip was one of those who commented on a better way to strike matches to avoid them breaking: pushing the head along the box. I’ve been doing this now, and it seems to work in most cases. I previously held the match at almost a 90 degree angle to the box.
If you’re wondering the posts that have attracted the most comments are: April Fools’ Day 2004, When I bought the house, the rapidfire quizzical What kind of person are you? and The bathtub of mystery. (If you run WordPress, here’s how to see this for your blog.)
The subject of huntsmans or huntsmen spiders came up recently on Trish’s blog (see comments). Well for a definitive answer, I asked my sister about it the other day. Not just ‘cos she’s a smart cookie or I was trying to make conversation, but because she studied linguistics at uni. And she was able to give me the answer. She mentioned a bunch of grammatical terms that I don’t recall now, but here’s the gist of it:
It’s huntsmans.
The reason it’s not huntsmen is that when considering the plural of a word, you only treat it the same as a root word (man, men) if the meaning is the same. In this case the man in huntsman spider is not literally a man.
Man. Men.
Workman. Workmen.
Postman. Postmen. (With a caveat that you shouldn’t be using such gender-biased terms, you sexist pig.)
Huntsman. Huntsmans.
Just to throw a spanner in the works, huntsman also refers to a man who hunts. So the plural of that would be huntsmen.
Another contentious one: a computer mouse does not refer literally to a mouse (even if the name was inspired by its appearance). But an oh so delicious chocolate mouse you might buy in Haigh’s does refer to a literal mouse, even if it’s just a portrayal of one.
Mouse. Mice.
Chocolate mouse. Chocolate mice.
Computer mouse. Computer mouses.
Make sense? It kinda does to me now…
Mmm…. chocolate.
Number of days until the next Here Is My meme entry: 2. (The plan is to post one every Sunday). Have your cameras ready!
Number of people I’ve seen on the train this week reading The Da Vinci Code: 4 5 — including two in the same carriage.
Number of TV shows I endeavour to catch every week, no matter what: only 2 3 as a matter of fact — The Sopranos, Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. And how could I have forgotten Media Watch?
Number of e-mails sent from home since Sunday: 187. From other locations? Oh, I can’t be bothered counting them.
Number of reminders the Blood Bank have sent me about donating blood when they’re in my area again next week: 2 (one letter, one phone call. Thankfully the latter was a cut above your average telemarketer drone.)
Highest number of comments so far for one of my blog posts: 34 for April Fool’s Day.
Number of drinks I had yesterday: 3 cups of tea, 1 mug of hot chocolate, 2 orange juices, 1 glass of dark grape juice, 1 drink of water.
Number of bottles of orange juice the bloke in the cafe at lunch yesterday was claiming had disappeared in the 24 hours since he’d placed them there: 18. (Maybe a lot of people with colds wanting a Vitamin C hit?)
Temperature outside right now: 9.4 degrees C.
How many more meaningless numbers today after this one: 0.