Published on
29th of April 2004 in
General.
Many bloggers out there (most that I read anyway) have whined about house prices at some stage in the last 3 years. I’m constantly told by people who are way older than me to “buy out in XXXXville. It’s cheap out there.” The only problem with XXXXville is that it’s usually nowhere near public transport and amenities or, it’s 70km from where I and my wife work. My idea of a good abode is like many others’. Close to the city or any urban centre and with good public transport. That’s why, I suppose, that house prices in Australian cities have boomed.
Could it be that the generation before mine is starting to feel guilty? Nahhh! One editorial writer from fairfax seems to feel sorry for me. Thanks. I feel a whole lot better.
I tend to believe we just spend too much of our hardearned money on things like webhosting, domain names, mobile phones, PC upgrades, baggy yellow pants, cars with TV screens in them and internet fridges. As my old Greek neighbour once said, “All there was to buy in Melbourne when I was your age (31) was beer, spirits, clothes, food and concrete.” Concrete? Whatever.
Published on
27th of April 2004 in
General.
I love hearing good stories about domestic animals being saved from abuse or irresponsible breeders. Alison’s story is great to hear (she’s recently adopted a chihuahua – Maude). Every house/apartment should have a dog.
Published on
26th of April 2004 in
General.
In my bookmarks directory I have a plethora of blog addresses stored. I can comfortably say that about one third of the blogs that I have found interesting at some stage in the last two years have disappeared or stopped publishing. At some stage everyone who runs a weblog will wonder why they bother to maintain it. People become jaded. They run out of things to say, run out of confidence, become afraid to voice opinions or just can’t be bothered sitting in front of a computer in their spare time.
For such a simple idea, blogs have become a very well researched (and commented upon) phenomenon. Take this blog for example. Rexaviour is written by a student studying Social Informatics. As part of the Social Informatics study the author, David, is “researching the impact of weblogs on several social activities. These may include: politics, journalism, education, scholarly communication, social networking, privacy, and librarianship.”
The research sources he has collected on the subject of blogging are well worth a browse.
Published on
24th of April 2004 in
General.
Tony Hawk is a famous American skateboarder. Tony Hawks is an Irish comedian. Tony Hawks has fun replying to errant emails. — I love reading stuff like this.
Published on
24th of April 2004 in
General.
If anybody mentions Richmond today, I will kill.
Who cares about football anyway? More importantly, one of the most outstanding bands of the last decade is Yo La Tengo. I just thought I’d add that to the mix for no good reason other than for your enjoyment. They have some good mp3s available for dowloading on their website – free. Go and have a listen.
Published on
22nd of April 2004 in
General.
If the National Library of Australia has archived it, well, it must be worth looking at. May I present to you howardsucks.com. Make sure you check out the flash presentations at the bottom of the page, especially the one entitled ‘The Hoaxers.’
Published on
18th of April 2004 in
General.
The Snowy Mountains are a wonderful place to visit. Very peaceful. It was a shame to see how much damage was done to the forests from the fires 15 months ago. There are stands of 20-30 metre high eucalypts blackened at the bases and grey at the tops – dead. Miles upon miles of a tree graveyard. Not that I can complain too much. As far as I’m aware, fire is a very important part of the Australian bush’s life cycle. If you ever go through the Snowies, make sure you visit the Adaminaby Bowls Club for dinner in the evening. You’ve just gotta love bowling clubs. Mick Molloy would be proud of Adaminaby’s.
Published on
14th of April 2004 in
General.
I’ve had a week off work. Well, a week off life really. It’s great to switch off every now and again. But it’s funny that I’ve come to Sydney again to “switch off.” After a week here it’s back to Melbourne via the Snowy Mountains National Park. That’ll be a little more relaxing. I’ll be back on Sunday with some photos.
Published on
6th of April 2004 in
General.
From the ABC Newsradio “On the Net” segment comes a short compilation of Australianisms. Have a fiddle with the URL and you’ll come across the Australian National Dictionary Centre. I didn’t know we had one!
Wordmap is also an amusing read if Australian colloquialisms amuse you. I’m assuming you’re all as boring as me and like this sort of crap.
Also, today the grouse organisation have an interesting link. The 100 most often mispronounced words/phrases.
Oh, and make http://www.empirenotes.org/ a daily read.
Published on
5th of April 2004 in
General.
This quiz is probably the most useful I’ve ever come across. It asks how grammatically sound you are. I was surprised to discover the result below…
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!
If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be. Congratulations and thank you!
Me? Wha?
Published on
5th of April 2004 in
General.
Ages ago I swore that I wouldn’t mention Iraq, so please excuse me.
What a hopeless mess! What sort of stupid situation have the ‘axis of righteousness’ got themselves into? And how the hell could they be blind enough to walk into it?
Said…