Before blogging and the web, there was email and Usenet and FTP sites. Just over 29 years ago I started writing online, sending out literal undergraduate humour to mates at Monash University and beyond mostly via email, under the truly ridiculous name "Toxic Custard". It got into the student newspaper, then in 1996 it went onto the web and became the early version of this blog. Along the wa
Yes, sometimes my blog isn't about transport. If you'd prefer to see only transport posts, you can use this link. Here's a post where I ramble on about recent upgrades around my house. Wall insulation I had wall insulation installed earlier in the year. The winter gas bill came in recently. It's down 37.7% from the previous year. We were away for a bit of time, but nowhere near tha
On Saturday night at the Croxton Bandroom we saw They Might Be Giants playing a 1990s vs 2000s concert. The night before they'd done a 1980s vs 2010s concert. It was great stuff, very enjoyable. Now that I've heard Instanbul, Doctor Worm and Birdhouse In Your Soul live, I can die a happy man. And there were lots of other great songs - here's a full set list. I particularly loved Man It's So
I was looking through some old photos, and found these from November 1996. I've scanned them from the negatives. As you can see, they provide some good advice... (Click on either photo to view it larger in Flickr) Things to note here: "Don't be a jerk" is a work by Barbara Kruger, originally from 1984 Some of the well-known CBD skyscrapers are visible in the background, b
I found SBS's "Where Are You Really From" to be compelling viewing. If you don't look ethnic, you won't know the experience of people asking where you're from -- and not taking "Sydney" for an answer. They don't want to know where you're from. They want to know where your family originated. The whole series had some powerful stories, but it was the first episode that particularly stru
It's amazing to think that had circumstances been different, the western world might have developed its road transport around electric engines rather than fossil fuels. That's one of the key points made by "A Most Deliberate Swindle", by Mick Hamer - the tale of the London Electrobus company, which pioneered the use of electric buses in London in the early 1900s. I was sent a preview copy -- it
Ten years ago today: trying out Twitter— Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) August 20, 2007 Yep, ten years ago today I joined Twitter. As you can see, my second Tweet was just as compelling: is thinking about another cup of tea— Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) August 20, 2007 This was all pre-smartphone (at least for me) though some the Nokia phones I had until 2011 could do Tw
Friday night concert! I was sold on Things Of Stone And Wood - though my compradres were really going for the support act, Club Hoy. It might be cruel to call TOSAW a one-hit wonder, though none of their efforts charted as well as Happy Birthday Helen. But the song was on an album called "The Yearning" (1993) which I really really liked back in the day... perhaps apart from the title track, whi
I don't have "get rich quick" schemes. I kind of have "get moderately well-off, gradually" schemes. The worst one has been buying shares. I got a tip that shares in Xero (the online accounting software company) would skyrocket. And they did, from about $6 to something like $40. But that was before I got around to buying them. By the time I bought them, they'd dropped to about $25. They subse
Since I don't have a transport-related post ready at the moment, here's a quick one about music. I'm loving the Sonos system. I'd been warned that buying extra speakers for it was addictive, and it's true. I just got another Play:1. They're the smallest of the range, but they still pack a punch. (All Sonos speakers are $50 off at the moment, until the end of the year... help me, I don't need mo
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