Categories
Social media

Twitter highlights part 3

Here, in the interests of data preservation, is the third instalment of my best Twitter posts. July 2008 What’s this? From the man who brought you Myki (Peter Batchelor) comes a new coal-fired power station, the day before Garnaut reports?! 10:09 AM Jul 2nd, 2008 from web Umbrella self-destructed, top flew off. At least the  ... [More]

Categories
transport

The FKN line is stuffed again

From time to time I’ll rant on Twitter about the FKN (Frankston — it’s an official code) line being stuffed. After a few months of pretty good performance right around the rail network, the past week has seen a marked decline. Pulling together info from Connex’s Twitter feed and SMS alerts, and excluding a medical  ... [More]

Categories
Clothes

Selling shoes

So, those very nice but badly sized Ecco shoes I bought a couple of months ago… I’m finally selling them on eBay: I bought these shoes recently. I wore them a couple of times and then realised I’d made a huge mistake: I had got the wrong size. Could I return them to the shop?  ... [More]

Categories
transport

A day on the trains

It occured to me that a lot is going to change in public transport in the next few months. Connex is on the way out, to be replaced by MTM trading as Metro. Metcard will be phased out in favour of

Categories
Consumerism

Round and round and round

My washing machine is a Hoover, which is about 15 years old. It’s been pretty good over the years, though in that time I reckon the service people have been called out perhaps 4-5 times (twice that I recall for blockages which I later learnt to fix myself). Now however the spin cycle is making  ... [More]

Categories
Blog sponsorship Consumerism

Lasoo’s iPhone application

My blog’s sponsor Lasoo, which provides online catalogues and price comparisons, now has an iPhone application. The media and marketing blog Mumbrella writes: Until you think about its significance, it’s easy enough to dismiss it as just another app. But what it does is bring much closer for consumers the economic concept of the “perfect  ... [More]

Categories
books News and events

NASA to prove Herge right?

Tintin and friends landed on the moon in 1952, some 17 years before Apollo 11 got there. While writing the story, Herge and his team researched what the moon would look like on the surface, and as anybody who’s read the book would know, it’s uncannily accurate. After Apollo 11 made it to the Moon,  ... [More]

Categories
TV

Two more thoughts on Hey Hey

The Jackson Jive The controversy over this skit, which involved five men blacking up (and one “whiting” up) to portray the Jackson 5, rages on. I don’t think it’s as simple as some are making out. Those offended (especially the Americans and Brits) should bear in mind that “blackface” has no history in Australia, and  ... [More]

Categories
driving Melbourne Photos

Friday pics

Every time I pass this mural in Glen Huntly, I wonder if the grinning face is meant to be anybody in particular. This sounds like brutal honesty to me — perhaps they’re just not that good. Surely this can’t be good for your tyres.

Categories
transport

A whole bunch more on Myki

The billion-dollar-plus Myki ticketing system is slowly moving forward. They’re expecting it to be switched on (at least in part) in Melbourne by the end of the year, followed by V/Line sometime next year. It already runs on regional town buses in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Seymour and the Latrobe Valley. Interestingly there are apparently no  ... [More]

Categories
TV

Hey Hey

When we tuned into the first Hey Hey special last Wednesday, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It’s been ten years since the show ended, which seems like a long time, but most of the regulars from back then are still around. I first watched Hey Hey when I was a kid, when it  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Updates: still confusing, and getting worse

Secret tramways business The secret route numbers are getting worse on Collins Street. It looks like a 47 is a shortened 109, to Kew Depot, presumably via Victoria Street. A 29? Not sure, maybe a shortened 48. Does that mean it goes via Bridge Road? Not sure. And if the 29 and the 47 both  ... [More]