Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
“Essential”, says the Macquarie Dictionary (Fourth Edition), means “absolutely necessary; indispensable: discipline is essential in an army“. But the new Thursday supplement in the Sydney Morning Herald, entitled essential: Style + Home + Health (not online), must work to a different definition.
Continue reading ““Essential”? It’s all a matter of perspective…”
Thanks for joining us. In the centre of the screen, wearing the white spacesuit — sorry, white Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit — is Heidi Piper. This is her first Extra-Vehicular Activity in her brand new Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit. Heidi’s current task is “remove aft solar array blanket box restraints”.
Judging by the loud clanging noises, followed by something falling off, Heidi’s task involves bashing something until it falls off.
No-one else seems bothered. I assume it’s OK to bash your space station until bits fall off.
You can’t quite see him, but up on the left is Joe Tanner. This is his sixth Extra-Vehicular Activity — oh, “spacewalk”, dammit! — so he gets to “mate the T5 to the J5” on the P4 truss segment.
That’s is, Joe plugs in a data cable.
Consider the Sony SVRHD700 Digital Video Recorder. This fine-looking piece of kit has dual high-definition digital TV tuners, HDMI output and a 160GB hard drive to store up to 23 hours of HD video. The even finer Sony SVRHD900 is identical — except for a 250GB hard drive, storing 36 hours.
Now a 250GB hard drive costs just $30 more than a 160GB. But by adding $30 of hardware, Sony can charge an extra $200 for the whole machine — $1499 compared with $1299.
Why? Because you get 56% more storage, and 20% more model number, but pay only 15% more. Bargain!
A clown in life, Steve Irwin has inspired more jokes since his death — not just that first one I posted last week…
[Update 23 January 2008: Since Steve Irwin jokes are very popular on this website, you might also want to start posting Heath Ledger death jokes. Just as mindlessly tacky.]
And if I hear any more, I’ll post them here as comments.
Oddly enough, another “Australian icon” died last week: legendary racing car driver Peter Brock wrapped himself around a tree. And yet he hasn’t spawned a series of jokes. Why is that, I wonder?
Scroll down for more Steve Irwin Jokes in the comments.
[Update 19 April 2009: I’m closing comments on this post. The few comments which have been posted in recent months are mostly from people who can’t seem to see beyond an overly-simplistic “He’s a hero” or “You’re lame”. Very few of them can even spell properly. And none are adding anything positive to the discussion. Time to move on.]
You can watch the hot space action from STS-115 at www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/. Of course as I write this the astronauts are asleep for the next five hours, but they do have a camera pointing at the Earth, which is worth a look. And the commentator is doing such a sterling job she’d be at home on ABC Radio during a rained-out cricket match.
It looks like Vodafone gets the gig as network provider. I’m thinking Nokia might sell me an N80.