Posts by Paul Dowden

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  • Busytown: No news is good news,

    I got the Sydney Morning Herald all summer as part of a $50 for the year uni deal. Last week they stopped the morning deliveries -I'm s'posed to go and collect it but I don't always and can't get it for brekkie. I really irks not having a physical, tactile thing to spill coffee on, fight over puzzles inside, share the trivia section, draw moustaches and devils horns on John Winston Howard (that _never_ gets tired). I do feel guilty about the paper but a laptop at breakfast is just not the same. The sooner some whateverthehellitis (washable, flexible kindle?) comes along the better.


    My mum rang the ODT subscriptions manager and made them make the nasty paper-run lady pay us more. Go mum!

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Random Play: The movie that cried out to…,

    "Beans to God!"

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    A new xkcd to cheer you all up


    btw JohnAmiria, that's why I took all my picture off Facebook. That and the fact that they (claim they) own the copyright to anything you upload (they own millions of lame status updates)!.

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Island Life: No soup for you,

    Those damn Americans pronounce it 'rath', though, making the joke awesome only for Anglo-pronouncers.

    And that makes it so much better

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Up Front: First Footing,

    In the late 90s I was an outdoor ed. instructor on the Isle of Wight. We had a new group of Year 6ers from a school somewhere in England each week.

    Part of our routine was to 'excitedly' welcome the kids as they exited their bus. This generally led to the same 2nd question* from almost every child from every school, "Why aren't you wearing any shoes?". Very few of them had any idea of how lovely it was to walk on grass sans sneakers (they invariably called them "trainers" but there's no alliteration).

    Myself and the other Antipodean backpacker outdoorsy types were always very pleased when, by the end of the week, the same kids got on their bus: grubby, tired, happy and barefoot!


    *The first question (boy or iril) was always who 'your team' was.

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Sports and: fashion,

    I now it's a bit late but Hayden has corroboration:

    Rugby’s greatest appeal lies in its uniforms.

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Island Life: Still not over it,

    Even Kevin Costner would better manage Auckland ("if you build it...").

    Say what you like about Canberra but it does have plenty of bike paths. Recently we actually had a 'Give Way' sign erected on our street where a bike path crosses (the very convenient bike path that goes directly to my work!). Speaking of work I'd better go.

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Stories: The Internet,

    'Wow, this is going to be big" moment:
    Signing up for Hotmail and finding out fifty thousand other people had it too.

    Dumbest moment :
    Hours of frustration setting up my first account with Telecom. I was on the phone for ages before the surprisingly patient chap asked me how I had spelled Xtra: with an 'e', how else?

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Hard News: Trust. Us.,

    Related to this (particularly re. Crikey) check out the move afoot at Possum Pollytics. It's encouraging to see his response to MSM's whining about bloggers is "bring it on!"

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Did you see that?,

    And I still love that world-record green line zooming along the pool, and the country names on the lanes (in the rowing too)

    How about those pretty fireworks? P'raps they can also sketch in a few happy smiling family members to watch from the empty seats.

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report

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