train platform drama
Matt’s blogged about humanity and how we can be ashamed to be humans sometimes. That story, about people not calling police who could have prevented a crime, had just been in the news, and I was on the train station platform, waiting for a city train to take me to uni. It was a latter train than usual- and if I had caught the earlier train, I wouldn’t have been witness to an incredible spectacle.
I was waiting quietly, when an almighty scuffle broke out at the station on the other side, outbound, of the station. There was some one on the ground, screaming, and a group of other people around the person. This person was writhing around- and the everyone on the city bound side was watching. It was going through my head, and I’m sure everyone else’s: what is going on? is this an assault? or is this person badly injured and needs an ambulance? Do I get out my phone? The station master came out of the office, crossed the tracks, and went to see what was going on. He spoke to one of the people, nodded, and calmly walked back across and climbed up onto the platform. Then he said:
Ticket Inspectors.
This woman was making such a fuss in an attempt to avoid a fine. She will probably get charged with more and be in deeper trouble than she would have been for fare evasion.
I don’t know how the situation ended, as my train arrived then.
COMMENTS
podcast hack: re-download an mp3
Our church has recently started podcasting the night’s sermons, but of course we are in the beginning phases of handling the technology. There was a hitch with a wrong mp3 uploaded- oops!
First, we tried to delete the offending mp3 and “update”- that is, check for a new episode. No go. I didn’t want to delete all the episodes I had already downloaded, because it takes a lot of bandwidth. I just wanted to download the fixed episode.
Dave saved the day though:
- remove the offending mp3,
- unsubscribe from the podcast
- then resubscribe.
The podcatcher should download the replaced mp3- without deleting all the old mp3′s!
The podcatcher we are using is iTunes, so this is untested with other podcatchers.
COMMENTS
message inbox full
How annoying is it to get a dialogue on your phone saying- “inbox too full- message waiting” and you have to go through and delete all those “ok, c ya” and “today, at 11″ messages?
To keep organized, I am resolved to only keep the most relevant messages on my phone, and delete the rest. I guess you could set aside 5 minutes at the end of the day and clear out your inbox. This would save panic at crucial times when you are waiting for an important message.
I have heard other folk complaining about their email inboxes, but I don’t have the problem there. I realized today what they have been going on about.
COMMENTS
learning to drive
The Australian driving system is a little different to what I’ve heard of elsewhere: you have to study the road rules, take the learner’s permit test, drive with an L in the windows of your car, (16 is the minimum age) and, when you are 18 you can take a driving test, and get a provisional license (including a P in the front and back windows), and after you turn 21 you can get your full license.
This of course varies a little from state to state- I’ve described the Victorian system.
There is a practice learner’s permit test (L plate test) you can take online- I wonder how people who haven’t studied the book would go?
COMMENTS
gripe: library books vandalized
I’m in the middle of the crazy university paper trail at the moment, and I have been enjoying the use of the extensive library collections at Monash. However, there is one thing that I have found distracting, annoying and downright sad is the vandalism of these books.
I’m not talking about irreverent and irrelevant drawings or “Fred woz ere” scrawls- I’m talking about underlining.
It can be helpful to underline relevant points and come back to a book and easily find the best bits to include in your essay- but these are Library books. These are books that are a shared resource! We must treat them with the respect that comes when you know hundreds, if not thousands of other people will also pick up these books and use them for their own research.
I admit that this can be useful for the time-poor student, but this underlining is more distracting than helpful, because we all come to a book with different interpretations and uses.
Please don’t do this with library books. Buy your own.
Oh- and the person who stuck the barcode sticker on top of the cover work on “Del Franquismo a la Posmodernidad” should be, if not severely disciplined, shot.
COMMENTS
when computers get ugly
and it’s even worse when it’s not yours.
I was in BigW today, and was done shopping, and I got in line- express checkout- three items or less.
When suddenly the whole thing quit working. Checkout people just standing staring. It slowly started to sink in that there were some serious issues. Manager gets on the PA, apologising for the delay, but that isle 6 is still working- as well as the lay-by desk. Lots of people start to trek over to the back of the store, but I decided to stay and wait.
There is a basket of mintys and fantails making its way around to placate the people.
Finally, after 20+ minutes of phone calls between the cashiers and the server room, the lines were moving.
It was a LONG time to wait in line.
COMMENTS
misleading titles
I was having a look at the news in The Age online today, and I saw a title that just had to get my click- Pixar shareholders vote on Disney take over – it was actually about Disney taking over Pixar, but I read it as Pixar taking over Disney, and I thought: “man, that’s insane!” but of course the real facts were made clear to me on reading the article.
And to all you bloggers out there- this applies to you too!
and a quick celebration: this is the 200th post!
COMMENTS
Mitcham Baptist Youth Web
Well, there is a new web ministry- Mitcham Baptist Youth. It is in a very young stage, the site online is just a mock up, but I hope we will be able to get into php to make management much easier.
It aims to be a place for the youth to interact with each other outside of regular church and youth group times, and hopefully a place where other young Christians, around the world and around Australia can hang out and grow.
At first we’ll have a multi-media section (photos, videos etc) and also get some blogging going from the leaders. Then we hope to add a forum and more.
It will be nice to relax with this project after the stress of exams and projects. I’m looking forward to working with a group of young people who are on fire for God and want to do something for their community.
COMMENTS
coffee machine!
Well, I made my first coffee (for myself) today at WholeFoods, the cafe I volunteer at. I’m documenting the steps here so I don’t forget.
Coffee:
- tamp (press) it down on the coffee.
- twist the tamper a little.
- “kick” it (knock the tamper on the edge of the basket)
- tamp again
- Take the basket off the machine- it is firmly locked in, so push the handle clockwise.
- Dump the old grinds out- really smack it hard on the pipe in the middle of the bin.
- Put the basket on the machine and run water through it till it becomes clear.
- wipe out the basket with a bit of paper.
- put the scoop under the (very like a gum-ball machine) coffee grinder- pull the handle towards you (a shot) twice- or three times for double strength.
- Take the tamper, and
- wipe off any grains on the edge of the basket.
- run some water through the machine to warm it- not long, 10 seconds or so.
- put the basket on the machine.
- get the cup/glass and position it under the spout so that the coffee will run down the sides of the cup.
- switch on the water- this machine times it automatically.
That’s a short black ready to go! (espresso) This is the base coffee.
Milk:
- put enough milk in the metal jug. (two to three inches)
- put the steam nozzle in the jug, about 1/3rd of the way down.
- turn on the steam!
- make sure that the milk is swirling in a vortex-type shape.
- pull the jug down, letting the steam get to the top of the milk, to aerate it. then put the jug back up- 1/3 to 1/2 of the way in. This needs to be done fast it is called a kiss. A latte needs about 6 kisses, a cappuccino more.
- You should be holding the jug- one hand on the handle, and the other on the side of the jug. Put the nozzle a little further in, and feel when the side gets very hot. The milk is done.
- Put the milk down on the counter- tap it down, forcefully enough to knock out the air bubbles, but not too much to spill the milk.
- Take the cloth and clean off the nozzle
And to combine the two:
- Grab a spoon, and use it to stop the froth as you pour the milk (slowly) into the glass, letting froth through (encourage it with the spoon) for the last centimetre. (latte)
- tap the glass on the counter, and then put it on a saucer, ready to serve- or skip the saucer and drink it yourself.
Tips for Milk:
- Don’t put the nozzle in too deep- the pressure will do scary things.
- Too shallow and you will have all froth.
- Kiss: down-*ssmrch*-up (very fast)
- Keep the vortex going to avoid burning the milk. (adjust the angle, and get a feel for it)
I’m very excited about it. It’s fun to be able to do things like that, I plan on making a coffee to practice a lot. Not that I will be confident in making other people coffees just yet.
edited to change terminology- coffee grind holder is a basket.
COMMENTS
gmail down
At least from 7:00AM this morning, the 5th of May 2006.
Going to gmail.com or trying to access it from the google homepage (the rest of google works) brings up a 404 error- not found. I can’t get to it, which is annoying.
However, I hope it is up by this afternoon, because, well, it’s google. They are a large professional company.
Makes me glad I’m a geek and have multiple mail accounts.