Categories
Net Politics and activism

My federal MP’s Twitter feed: relentlessly negative

Because I’m interested in politics, I make it my practice to follow various politicians on Twitter, whether I agree with them or not, including all the local ones I can find. My local federal MP Andrew Robb would have to have the single most relentlessly negative Twitter feed of any of them. Here’s all his  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Home life

Robot vacuum cleaners

I was chatting to a work colleague about birthdays, the amazing fact that we’re now well into the 21st century, and what happened to the promise of robots who would do the housework? Of course, we have dishwashers, clothes washers, dryers… and then she said she has one of those robot vaccuum cleaners. Apparently it  ... [More]

Categories
Home life

Proudly presenting: slow-motion video of me on a pogo stick

(No, I don’t think this is a big part of the future of urban transport.)

Categories
Food'n'drink Friends and loved ones TV

Best birthday cake EVER

With thanks to my super-cake-baker sister Susannah. If (gasp) you don’t get it, well, you’d better watch this.

Categories
transport

Smartbus sign still not fully working after 18 months

There used to be realtime train information displayed on the Smartbus sign outside Bentleigh station (as there is at many other Smartbus stops near railway stations around Melbourne). The information was provided partly for the benefit of bus drivers, so they could see if a train was imminent, and if so wait for passengers (though  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne

The amazing transformation from old man barber shop to trendy cafe

My recollection is the back of the building at the corner of Little Bourke Street and Little William Street was an old man barber shop. (Pic from Google Streetview.) Over the past year or so it’s somehow transformed into a trendy cafe called Patricia. The kind of place that appears to be wildly popular despite  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism transport

No, the law doesn’t demand that Myki accept 5 cent coins, or that Metcard machines accept notes

The question seems to keep coming up as to whether it’s legal for Myki machines to not accept 5 cent coins; or indeed whether it’s legal for Metcard machines on trams to only accept coins (not notes). Some people assume that because it’s all legal tender, it must be against the law to demand specific  ... [More]

Categories
Net

Why are Twitter messages 140 characters?

Did I post this already? I don’t think I did. Hopefully not. Why are Twitter messages 140 characters? Because they were designed to fit into the 160 characters of a text message, with some characters filled up with header information and so on. So why are text messages 160 characters? Because they fit into 140  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Man vs nature, Bentleigh station

Categories
transport

Level crossing rules: safe to cross, but illegal

Happy Rail Safety Week. Level crossing. Three tracks. The two in the foreground have no train coming, and the automatic gates for them are open. There’s a train approaching on the other track, and its gates are closed. Logic would suggest it’s perfectly safe, and perfectly legal to walk through the open gates, right? Turns  ... [More]

Categories
Culture Melbourne Video games

Can you combine street art, classic video games and a Melbourne street map? Yes!

Can you combine street art, classic video games and a Melbourne street map? Yes! CDH Art: “Using the familiar street art motif of retro gaming, I created a walking guide-map to Melbourne’s street art.”

Categories
transport

Trying to make sense of the Metro Tunnel “concept of operations” draft document

A couple of months ago PTV released a set of three technical documents related to the Metro rail tunnel. I’ve done some skimming through two of them so far (I hope to read the third soon), and am posting some notes from the first one here that I hope might be of interest to people:  ... [More]