Shock! Horror! The hosts of SBS’s Movie Show, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, have defected to the ABC! To an Aussie, this is pretty much as big a deal as when Letterman jumped to CBS.
Category: Random Links
Links that I’m reading/watching/listening to/thinking about
-
IKEA founder now world’s richest man
What?! Apparently the founder of IKEA has overtaken Bill Gates as the world’s richest man. Sorry Bill, that’s what happens when an administration voluntarily runs the dollar into the ground.
-
Petalia.com.au
A co-worker pointed me towards Petalia today. It’s an Australian pet site with loads of information on cats, dogs, fish, and everything else.
-
Competing Aussie reality shows
Hmm, it looks like we’ve got two new competing Australian reality shows in the works! We saw a commercial on the ABC last night asking for contestants for “Outback House”, which will be similar to previous PBS and BBC shows. They’re going to take a group of “modern Australians” and see if they can live like it’s 1860. It looked pretty neat. Up against it will be “The Colony” (which I discovered thanks to a comment by Ben). That one will actually send people from the UK on a voyage by ship to Australia to start out as colonists. Some will even be convicts!
-
Spring Knitty is here!
The spring issue of Knitty is here! I was amused to see that someone has repurposed the old Geek Code into a Knitter’s Geek Code. It’s a little messy and complicated but still kinda fun. Here’s mine:
—–BEGIN KNITTER’S GEEK CODE BLOCK—–
Version: 1.1
KER++$ Exp+ SPM++ Steel+ Wood Pl– Den++ Nov- Cot+ Wool+++ Stash Scale++ Fin– FI++ Int– Tex>++ !Lace Flat- Circ+++ DPN ML+ Swatch KIP+ Blog+++ SNB+ EZ+ FO+ WIP+ GaugeW+ ALT Q+ X Sw-
——END KNITTER’S GEEK CODE BLOCK—— -
Want to move to Oz?
Want to move to Oz? Australia has announced they’ll be letting in an extra 5000 immigrants next year.
-
Unemployment rate chart
Bush’s term as President has seen more American jobs lost than any other President since Herbert Hoover. Check the chart. Pretty damning stuff. I still don’t get why anybody would vote for him. (Pssst, Sis, show this to that Republican fiance of yours.)
-
Drivers Licenses for Yum-Cha carts…
Sydney City Council has just passed new regulations requiring driver’s licenses for yum-cha cart operators. I had yum-cha for the first time a few months ago and was unimpressed. It’s basically “dim sum”, as I understand it, where they wheel around carts full of little stuffed pork buns and chicken wings and spring rolls. Apparently there have been a rash of yum-cha cart accidents so now wait staff will have to undergo training and carry “L plates” for the first six months. Hee!
Note for Non-Aussies: Here’s the process for getting a driver’s license in this country (as I understand it). First you have to pass a Learner’s Test, after which you get your “L plates” to put on the car. It’s just a little sign with a red L on it. You have to log a certain number of hours driving and then you get to take your Provisional Test, which is a driving test with an instructor. When you pass that, you get your “red P’s”. Then later you have to take a Hazard Perception Test, after which you get your “green P’s”. And after that, there’s one final test before you get your real license. Pretty insane, huh? The L and P plates mark you out as a new driver, which means you have to drive slower and you get higher penalties for being pulled over. It’s a pretty thorough system!
Addendum, many hours later: I started to tell Snookums about the story tonight at dinner when he mentioned he’d already seen it. “Pretty good,” he said. “I bet a lot of people fell for it.” Me: “Uh… D’oh!” Consider me April Fooled. I can’t believe I’m that dumb.
-
Worst. Job. Ever!
Check out this Slashdot thread of the worst web development job stories. Is it any wonder I want to leave this industry?
-
iPod Mugging Frenzy…?
The Snook forwarded me a link to this news story about a rash of iPod muggings in the UK. Apparently Bad People are identifying their victims by the distinctive white headphones. I say, “Bugger them.” It took me ages to get the comfy “in-ear” headphones and I’m not going to give them up. What’s the point of being in a trendy clique if nobody knows you’re in it? 🙂
Addendum: Apparently this crime spree might be more fiction than reality.