Bad Maths? Bad Information?

Spotted this on the information screens at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station one day last week.

So, it is 10:47am and the Williamstown train is due in six minutes – which would be at 10:53am, right?

Yet it is supposed to arrive at 10:54am – an “early” Metro train? Hardly likely.

So is this bad maths, or bad information from whatever mechanism they use to track train location and calculate expected arrival times?

Either way, not very valuable information.

For the record, the train arrived at 10:58am.

Football Really Can Be A Pain In The Ass

Football really can be a pain in the ass, apparently:

I suspect they meant “annus” and not “anus”, don’t you think?

It has been corrected in the article, but many lulz were had, especially when the photo looks like he might have been having some pain in that area!

Special thanks to @trmash for the image!

We Still Love You Brocky

Today is the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of Peter Brock in the 2006 Targa West Rally.

So many things could be said about Peter Brock, but words would not do justice to his feats in a racing car. So lets just watch him on the way to his ninth – (and ultimately final) – Bathurst 1000 victory:

Sublime. Effortless. Arm on the window sill.

Enough said.

Android 4G Tablets Imminent?

Catching up on my weekly diet of podcasts this morning, I listened to the most recent edition of This Week In Google – admittedly an episode that is almost a week old now.

One of the guests was Chris DiBona, the open source and public sector engineering manager at Google.

Towards the end of the show, Chris fell off the Skype call – (apparently due to an internet connectivity failure at Google headquarters) – and reconnected via his tethered 4G tablet.

Wait, a 4G tablet?

Clearly they are being used in house at Google, so clearly are not far away from release for public consumption.

The only question now is: are they Google-branded, or are Google just testing some upcoming models from the usual suspects such as Samsung and HTC?

Interesting.

Is This The Smallest Serial Number Ever?

Is this perhaps the smallest serial number in the world?

Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s bloody small!

Anyone For Coffe?

Spotted this footpath advertisement at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station yesterday.

Fail. Just, fail.

The Forgotten Bathurst Winner

With the V8 Supercar endurance races approaching, I thought I would step back and have a look at some of the little known history of Bathurst.

A history that will always record that Peter Brock and Larry Perkins won the Bathurst 1000 three times in succession in 1982, 1983, and 1984.

What is little known is that between their 1982 and 1983 triumphs, someone else won at Bathurst.

Me.

Okay, so it was just me sitting in my father’s HJ Holden Kingswood celebrating my “victory” on the start/finish line on the way home from a family trip to Sydney in 1983.

But I still won.

Metro Trains Audio Fail

I noticed a woman press the “Next Train” information button at Newport station this morning, and she had this really strange look on her face as she listened.

Curious, I went and pressed the button myself, and I discovered the reason for the bewildered look on her face. Listen to the audio below:

Seems the only available sound files on the system were those for the station names, and not all the words in between!

Ya Can Hanna Man A Grander Spanner!

We’ve all heard the slogan for Sidchrome tools, which states “you canna hand a man a grander spanner”. How’s this for a “grander spanner”?

Grander.

Why Our Classification System Is Broken

I don’t think that anyone in their right mind denies the need for a system of classification for media content. Such a system provides a valuable tool for anyone to understand the content of material, as part of the decision process of whether or not that material is for them.

In Australia, we have had a long debate over the last couple of years in regards to our classification system, and the recent addition of the R18+ category for computer games shows that we can make progress.

Over on the internet side of things, the debate has been heated in regards to the so-called “RC” or “Refused Classification” category – which of course is a classification, even though the name suggests it is not.

Our federal communications minister, Stephen Conroy, tells us quite clearly in this press release on his own website that “RC” is about:

“Child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act.”

Care to explain this one, Senator?

Film Banned in Britain Approved Here

“A film banned in Britain for its graphic portrayal of sexual violence, forced defecation and mutilation will be screened in Australian cinemas after the censors approved it in a decision that has surprised its distributor.”

“The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) will screen in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth after the Classification Board gave the film an R18+ classification without demanding any scenes be removed.”

Clearly some “sexual violence” is less “classification refusable” than other “sexual violence”.

This is getting beyond a joke. RC does not work. If an example like this does not demonstrate the need to get rid of it as part of the classification review currently underway, I don’t know what would.

Fix it.