Blog

  • Melbourne Airport Buses

    on bus

    I’ve been flying a lot more lately, to the point where I’ve joined Qantas Club to try and make the airport part less annoying. But there’s one thing I can’t avoid.

    THE GOD DAMN CRAPPY ALWAYS OVER FULL LONGTERM PARKING BUS AT MELBOURNE AIRPORT.

    Yes, writing in caps is like swearing.

    Every coupe of years there appears to be a debate here about extending the train network out to the airport, but no one ever talks about an internal transport network for getting around the airport, like the monorail at Newark or SFO.

    And it’s not as if the parking is affordable either: $69 for two and a bit days AND the car is in the open. If you want the multi-level is $99. I use to leave the car at Perth Airport for 10 days and I’d only end up paying a bit more than that. Often you end up paying more for the car parking than the flight.

    And then you have to wait for the stupid bus, which is always overfull.

    Not good enough.

  • There’s Always Something To Complain About

    The Age: India warns on student attacks

    INDIA has warned the Brumby government over continued attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, complaining about a lack of official data on the nature of the violence.

    The Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal [said]..”Though the incidents have been on the decline, they still continue to happen, and this is a matter of deep, deep concern to us,” he said.

    ”We do not have the benefit of the data, and we would expect the state government to actually share that data with us.

    Let met get this right; VicPol and the Victorian Government are addressing the issue and the attack rate is seriously down (actually, the murder rate is up but only because Indians keep killing each other here), but that’s not good enough because the Indian Government believes that VicPol should be providing data on the ethnicity of attack victims in Victoria to them.

    Which part of non-discriminatory policing don’t they get? Or is it a case that the Indian Government believes its citizens are somehow more important than citizens from other countries in Australia, or even locals?

    And here’s another thing: attacks continue to happen in Victoria to everyone….just like they do in places like….lets see….India. No one likes it, but it’s a sad fact of life in a modern society…even a place like Victoria which doesn’t have a caste system.

  • Some One Is Taking The Piss

    The Age: Put soft porn out of view: experts

    MORE than 30 of Australia’s leading child experts are calling for an unprecedented ban on the sale of adult magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse and other ”soft porn” material from newsagents, milk bars, convenience stores, supermarkets and petrol stations.

    Lets ignore the implications for the ever increasing Australian theocracy the proposal offers, and look at the part I emphasised.

    So who’s on this list of “child experts” you may well ask?

    Tim Costello, CEO World Vision

    What they left off was Tim Costello is the Reverend Tim Costello. Yep, people in charge of churches are most definitely children experts

    Noni Hazlehurst, AM, actor, child advocate

    Yes, an actress who is most famous for having hosted Play School. Definitely an expert

    Clive Hamilton, AM, Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Clive Hamilton shouldn’t be let near adults, let alone children.

    There are others as well. Hetty Johnson springs to mind: when did never shutting the fuck up qualify you as an expert on children exactly?

    There’s names on the list I don’t recognize, but since when does a law degree or MBA make you a expert on children again?

  • The Nanny State Targets Codine

    ABC: The Federal Government is set to introduce changes to the way painkillers containing codeine are sold over the counter.

    1 in 10,000 people probably shouldn’t drive cars (in particular, anyone who lives in Balwyn) but the Government doesn’t check their names when they leave their driveways to see if they’re abusing the road or not. Why exactly are we being punished here again?

  • I Want An Internet Filter For Stupid People

    The Age: ‘Rape simulator’ game goes viral amid calls for censorship

    Attempts to ban a deplorable “rape simulator” video game have only caused it to spread virally across the internet, leading to calls for sites hosting the game to be blocked by internet censors.

    Karen Willis, executive officer of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre, said in a phone interview that the existence of material such as the RapeLay video game, which lets players simulate stalking and raping young girls, made internet filters, such as those proposed by the government, necessary….

    Willis said she “absolutely” believes the forthcoming internet filtering regime is necessary and should block sites that offer access to the game.

    Here’s a copy of the cover of the game, what’s the one thing that stands out (well, besides the young anime girls)

    Did you notice the DVD part?

    It’s not an online game, it’s an actual game that you can download or buy on DVD.

    And if it’s a download, what’s the most common forms of downloading on the net again, and are these blocked by the internet filter? 🙂

    I wan’t an internet filter for stupid people, and I’m adding Karen Willis on my blacklist after Chairman Rudd and Reichsminister Conroy.

  • This Speaks For Itself

    The Age - Business, World & Breaking News | Melbourne, Australia

    vs

    Dock

    Both shots taken at the same time 24 March 2010.

  • For Those That Came Before, An Exit Day

    Inquisitr: Gothamist Blog Network Acquired For $5-$6 Million

    I don’t know Jake much at all, although I’m pretty sure we swapped some emails in the early days. I covered the network in the Blog Herald days a fair few times, well, my memory is backed by Google as well here.

    It’s just great to see one of the early few finally come up with an exit.

    Which is why I found this comment from Nick Denton odd.

    Don’t get me wrong: Nick is the master of all things blog, even if his first protege is burning through the remaining funding at a company I was once involved with, and bleeding traffic.

    Thing is: I don’t care whether $5-$6 million isn’t the greatest exit after 7-8 years. It’s still an exit, and I don’t believe that even a couple of million each (and yeah, I get the CGT argument, been there, done that) is bad.

    Probably not in NY, but I could buy a nice house with that and have change for the next thing. Hell, if someone wants to offer me low 7 figures for The Inquisitr tomorrow, please do; the divorce has been costly after all 🙂

    In context, and this is where Nick may not get it, is that so many have fallen before them; that they lasted so long and could exit at all is a credit to Jake and Jen. It may not be the biggest exit, but it’s a respectable one in the broader context of those that came before.

    Nick, I hate to say it, but you haven’t exited yet. That Gawker may be worth a stray $100 million on paper is way different to actually exiting.

    Give them their credit without condition; they deserve it, and I think deep down you know they do, even if they never reached your heights. Besides, I’ve seen their network traffic, that valuation just helped you at least a little bit 🙂

  • I’m 8 Years Late But…

    I finally sat down and watched Firefly, then Serenity after getting through the 14 episodes.

    It is quite possibly the best show ever created for television.

    Yes, and I now have River Tam wallpaper 🙂

  • It Just Keeps Getting Worse

    Inquisitr: Australian Government Body Goes After Encyclopedia Dramatica In Epic Waste Of Taxpayer Dollars

    The creeping fascism just keeps getting worse.

    I mean what sort of crusader Government attempts to take legal action over a site that it has ZERO jurisdiction over?

    And crusader is the right term. This is a moral crusade by a Government led by a religious nutter that has no respect for the fundamental human right of free speech.

    Yeah, yeah, AHRC is a separate body, and yes, it has tried it on before (although not like this.) But they know where the funding comes from, and they’re trying to impress their paymasters now….least is there any other explanation for this pure insanity?

    Our Government and its statutory bodies continue to embarrass us on an international level, and I think without doubt now that it has to go at the next election.

    God, if you don’t want to vote Liberal, vote Green even. Just don’t vote for Chairman Rudd. Please!

  • Bollocks

    NineMSN: Gurshan ‘knocked out by opening door’

    The man charged over the death of a Melbourne toddler has told his father in India that he panicked when he accidentally knocked the boy unconscious while opening a door….

    His father Pragat Singh Dhillon has told the Indian media that the toddler had been standing behind the front door of the house when the accused opened it, knocking the boy unconscious.

    “He then called out to Gurshan’s mother, who was taking a bath, and his own wife, Simrat Kaur, who was in the kitchen at the time, but both couldn’t hear his calls,” he said in an interview with the Indian Express newspaper.

    “He then put the child in his car to take him to hospital.”

    Yeah, he put the child in the BOOT of the car to take him to hospital. He didn’t think to get the mother from the shower, or his Mrs to help.

    BOLLOCKS.

    Lets not forget, the kid to that point had been screaming.

    Manslaughter my arse.