That was the content of the very first email I received in 2007. Sure, it was spam, so the subject matter was kinda predictable. But there are some sentences that should never contain the word “discount”, and that’s one of them.
Carriageworks: an industrial cathedral for contemporary arts
Better late than never: over the next week I’ll post material collected earlier this year — starting off with a visit to Sydney’s newest contemporary performance space, Carriageworks on 21 January.
Our link to the Eveleigh Railway Workshops is weird. ’Pong was arrested for taking photos there, though eventually the charges were dropped. But now toxic waste has been removed (so they say), and space which was once full of sweaty tradesmen rebuilding rollingstock is now full of arty types enjoying the acting and sipping wine.
I must admit, I was worried it was just a facade job…
… but once inside you see what Director Sue Hunt describes as “an industrial cathedral”.
As the sun shifts through the afternoon, swathes of light streaming through the skylights turn the interior into a giant sundial. These cameraphone snapshots don’t do it justice. I may post more soon, but for now see more at the Carriageworks website.
Exxon’s unsubtle spin
It’s hardly surprising that a major corporation would use a PR firm to promote its worldview. But paying scientists $10,000 to write articles undermining a climate change report is just a bit too unsubtle.
5 species of birds: delight!
Another reason to love this village: just walking to the post office, I encounter five different species of birds!
Rainbow lorikeets (noisy and obvious, but still pretty), Australian magpies (confident and my favourite), Australian ravens (with their languid calls), noisy miners (yes, they’re noisy!) and pigeons.
OK, the skyrat pigeons can go. But the rest are just wonderful — even the aggressive miners. And add to that the family of pied currawongs that live nearby and several other species and you have a wonderful community in which to live.
Australian Business Register fixed!
The Australian Business Register, who last week had problems getting my name right, emailed me yesterday:
Your legal name now shows correctly in the Australian Business Register.
And it does.
They didn’t say why it was possible so quickly when it was impossible only seven days earlier. Maybe their programmers burnt the candle at both ends across the long weekend.
Or maybe someone just RTFM.
Spamming Google Maps — or not?
On Australia Day, Google Maps did a flyover of Sydney to take low-level photos. A small ISP decided to create an advertisement in the photos. So is that spam? Or as one commenter pointed out, were they just acting on Google’s invitation to “get involved”?