Categories
TV

Red Dwarf – they thought it was an arts programme

Red Dwarf – once upon a time, the ABC thought it belonged on the Sunday afternoon arts show.

Categories
Retrospectives transport

Hector the Cat

Teaching kids to cross the road safely is a matter of laying out the basic rules, and continual practice. I’d thought over the years it might be easier if the Hector The Cat song was still run on TV, as the lyrics helps make it easy to remember what to do. Happily, thanks to YouTube,  ... [More]

Categories
If Daniel was emperor of the world transport

Stupid grunty cars

Here’s a draft of a bulletin I’ll send out at some stage after I’ve taken over as Grand Emperor of the World and established my benevolent dictatorship. Dear owners of stupid grunty noisy cars, I hereby decree that you have three choices for your stupid grunty noisy cars: 1. You may, at your expense, have  ... [More]

Categories
If Daniel was emperor of the world Melbourne

When suburb names get stupid

Came across this business. They have two branches. They have a Chadstone branch, which is actually in Hughesdale, and they have a Bentleigh branch, which I’ll grudgingly admit is technically in Bentleigh, but is actually on Patterson Road, right next to Patterson station. As I’ve noted before, Hampton East now stretches right the way to  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Myki’s biggest problem?

This was a number 96 tram in Bourke Street on Friday afternoon: Similar scenes are seen in morning peak around much of the tram network, during the lunchtime rush in the CBD, as well as the evening peak, as well as weekends. Now imagine it with Myki: everyone touching-on and off their cards as they  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Making your argument count

“That is right, 38 new trains, pity they are only 3 carriages long instead of 6 like our current trains. I guess that means we paid double.” — Comment on the Herald Sun web site Seriously, where do people get these ideas? It’s complete garbage. “Thirty eight X’Trapolis six-car sets will be rolled-out from late  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA

Call me Bruce

My name’s really Daniel, but if you like you can call me Bruce. More fun with Google translations of a Chinese media article: … Victorian government has not yet determined when to start full operation ultra-budget Myki ticketing system, it was originally promised in 2007 and spent 130 million on the operation of the system,  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Melbourne

I’m confused

Toothpaste. There’s a bewildering number of varieties in just the Colgate brand. This is what the Safeway Homeshop site lists, excluding things like Pump packs and size variations: Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Gel Whitening Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Liquid Gel Icy Blast Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Max Fresh Cool Mint Colgate Toothpaste Advanced Whitening Colgate Toothpaste Baking Soda  ... [More]

Categories
Geek

Up and down like a yoyo

Back in uni, we had a Unix server which (unlike the faculty machines) was available for use by any student. Its name was yoyo, and it was invaluable back when internet access was hard to come by, and official university access was only granted to students studying IT subjects. Why “yoyo”? There was a hope  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Why do people sometimes not revalidate?

From time to time you’ll see someone having a whinge that they got on a tram and nobody bought a ticket or validated one, and therefore they must all be freeloaders. For example these comments on the Herald Sun web site: On every tram i board, only one person out of the 30 on there  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism

Cling wrap

Speaking of shopping for cheap alternatives, but preferring locally-made goods: initially I avoided buying the Aldi cling wrap because it was made in China. Then I noticed all the brands of cling wrap are now made in China, including OSO and Multix, and the one that’s in common use as the generic term, Glad Wrap.  ... [More]

Categories
Bendigo 2009 Social media

Who are these clowns whose Twitter posts get into the paper?

From last Saturday’s Herald Sun Weekend section: It was sent when we were passing through Kangaroo Flat on the way to Bendigo the other week. (Thanks for spotting it, onegirlinmelb)