.... i blame the earthquake

We're lucky in Melbourne. We live in a beautiful city in a pretty good country, we're very rarely affected by natural or manmade disasters. Our leaders are no more or less competent than any others, but at least they are democratically elected, if that's something that means anything to you.

In fact, upon reflection, you could say that Melbourne is a bit boring. I certainly wouldn't say that, as I beleive there is plenty to keep a person occupied here, but in terms of hard hitting sensational or tabloid news, car crashes and very infrequent gang related crime is as exciting as it gets.

brothel or restaurant?

Catching a tram home from work is exciting and often an adventure, but I have decided to walk to or from work a few times a week for the fresh air and exercise.

Usually this is pretty straightforward and uneventful, particularly when i do it early in the week, but a couple of days ago I was walking home and overheard a funny exchange as I passed a local restaurant.

Review of Half Way Home by Hugh Howey

Well, it looks like the Wool phenomenon is not a fluke. Half Way Home is another imaginative and thought provoking book from Hugh Howey. 

After reading and thoroughly enjoying the Wool Omnibus and First Shift, I tossed up between some of Hugh's earlier work, passing on Molly Fyde because it sounded like teen fiction. That's not a criticism, as I'll read anything that is entertaining and well written. 

Half Way Home is also about kids, but something about the blurb on the Amazon Kindle store won me over, and I'm glad it did.

ass or crotch? - the luck of the draw on peak hour trams

Peak hour trams in Melbourne are often full beyond their capacity according to some recent stats reported in the Age this week. This is no surprise to those of us who commute to and from work every day. Aside from being dangerous, just as filling any vehicle beyond it's capacity is dangerous, it's often inconvenient and plain old uncomfortable.

Occasionally I get on my morning or evening tram and find that there is a seat available. I always check if someone else wants the seat, because that's how I was raised, but often I get to sit down and spend my journey reading in something approaching comfort. Sounds good right? Lucky me!

why is digital piracy decreasing?

You infringe the copyright of digital content the moment you access it through an unauthorised mode of distribution. It costs a lot to develop, make and distribute movies, TV shows, albums, software and books.

At one point in time a physical disc, reel of film, book etc was relatively easy to control compared to a digitised version of your work. CDs and DVDs were the first step, containing a digital version of your material. When burners and the means to break inscription became available, all that was left to really impact media sales was a quick and easy means of distribution. In stepped the internet. Today, people have access to speeds allowing the download of a high definition movie in minutes.

ode to a man on the 86 tram

A man got on my tram tonight

Carrying a meteorite

I think he'll realise when he's older

It was just a plain old boulder