Category: Articles
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Phone fail
For the last few minutes, I’ve been fascinated by a random text message indicating that the sender is taking some sort of medication and will shortly be in attendance at the Ivanhoe Rehabilitation Centre in Melbourne. Such is life outside my comfort zone. (I’m fairly sure it’s nobody I know, but I could be horribly…
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The sun is trying to destroy us again
Slightly Disgruntled Scientist, I think the sun is on to you.
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Optus pestus
Optus’s website is a work of malevolent genius. It attacks one’s psyche on every level, from the stupefyingly inane animals to the incomprehensible maze of links to the bizarre concoctions that are the descriptions of the Optus service itself. It is the latter that most effectively tests my composure. The concept of “pre-paid” is theoretically…
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Sucks to be me
After [intlink id=”300″ type=”post”]speculating about the stimulus package[/intlink], and then [intlink id=”524″ type=”post”]speculating about whether I’d receive a piece of it[/intlink], it looks like I’ve fallen through the cracks. According to Julia Gillard, postgraduate students must be full-time and receiving an APA scholarship, or an equivalent “qualifying” scholarship, in order to be eligible for the…
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Unstimulated
The ATO’s tax bonus eligibility calculator informs me that I’m not, after all, eligible to receive the $900 tax bonus. I was above the tax-free threshold in 2007-08, but my tax was erased by offsets. It’s not clear whether I’m eligible to receive the $950 “training and learning” bonus either. I’m unknown to Centrelink and…
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I jinxed the weather
Last Friday I declared to those sitting around me at lunch that Summer was over. It usually is over by mid-March, and (for a time) temperatures seemed to drop in a firm and unambiguous manner. And now, suddenly, the BoM is forecasting a run of at least four 35-36° days in a row. Grumble, grumble…
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Ash Saturday
The fires burning in Victoria are now considered worse than those of Ash Wednesday (16 February 1983). I don’t have any particular personal connection to it, but it seems remiss to leave this event unmarked. Meanwhile, fires are also burning in New South Wales, and the floods continue unabated in Queensland. Perth isn’t such a…