An excellent piece from the generally excellent Metric Views on food energy content labelling. A calorie is a nonsense unit that means nothing; a joule is a real unit that makes sense. One of the things that I very much like about moving to Australia is that, for all its stereotyping as backward, the country … Continue reading The joule in the crown
Banditry
Lord Adonis's retort to Boris on the Tube Lines PPP arbitration is quite superb: Under devolution, it is for the Mayor and TfL to deliver the Tube upgrades within their generous budget - not for me to bail them out if they fail to do so. If Boris wants me to take charge of TfL … Continue reading We love Admiral Scrumptious
I never shout at customer services people. Literally never. Occasionally I mute the phone and scream; on very rare occasions I excuse myself from the physical situation and scream; but I've never shouted at a customer services person of any kind and hope never to do so. In most cases, this is because they don't … Continue reading Being shouted at is your goddamn job
In general, the New South Wales drivers theory test is a Bumper Book of Common Sense. However, I'm disappointed by question FD035: FD035 - Fatigue and Defensive Driving RUH You are driving an older relative for an appointment and are running late. They ask you to go faster to get there on time. You should … Continue reading Disappointing bureaucrats
Holiday over; new life commencing. As the twitter updates might testify, I now have an Australian flat, bank account, enormous selection of IKEA furniture, etc (not quite a driving licence yet, due to bureaucratic stupidity, but it's on the cards). This should (both in the moral sense and in the predictive sense) mean a return … Continue reading Back to the coal face
Shocked by the price of books in Australia - UK-published paperbacks with gbp8.99 printed on the back go here for $25, over 2x as much # ...possibly this explains certain highly unfair local stereotypes about learning / culture...? # Reading UK blogs for the first time in several weeks, people seem to be seriously considering … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-03-07
#ebz Melbourne is cloudy, and daytime TV here is unspeakably bad. Hence: http://fallenlondon.com/c/23971 # Sydney is awesome, in the "excellent" sense of the word. Sydney rents are awesome, in the "inspiring terror and fear" sense of the word # Flat-hunting is rubbish. New area exploring is fun. At least we get to combine the two … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-02-28
Wow, Perth is like all of the best aspects of western civilisation combined. #thishappenswhenyouspendamonthinAsia # Western Australia features quite astounding amounts of nothing at all. Pretty nothing at all, mind. # Internet connection too poor for full-scale review of 8-hour wine tour. Short review: DRINK! Bonzer. # Off to see how Perth celebrates Carnival Brazilian-style. … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-02-21
Bali is nice. Just spent 2 hours bodysurfing. Possibly a real board may be called for tomorrow. Now - COCKTAILS! # As @TheBuddhaSmiled says, the hotel is pretty dire: there aren't any pellets in the automatic bug-killer, and wifi only works in the bar # Also, the bar and massage service in the pool doesn't … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-02-14
Trying to find things to do in Siem Reap that don't involve drinking or going to Angkor Wat is surprisingly tricky... # #ebz yup, more of the same http://fallenlondon.com/c/14140 # Angkor Wat is an amazing feat of art and engineering. However, I now entirely understand the meaning of the phrase "templed out" # Waiting for … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-02-07