Escalators! They're great. They help you quickly get up what would have been a lot of stairs. Or they would do if people didn't always stop walking when they got on them.
What is this about? Do their legs stop working? Is there some kind of regality bestowed upon a person as they rise (or descend) majestically that now makes moving seem undignified, the normal act of walking now somehow beneath them?
Next time, as you deign to meet your waiting subjects on the next floor, how about just standing to the left?
Showing posts with label Wishful Thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wishful Thinking. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Monday, May 20, 2013
Just Fix It
Every now and then, you hear something that is just so obviously wrong, it is simply baffling as to why it hasn't ever been fixed.
This morning I heard that Austalia has 120 taxes. Now that would seem to me to be a large number, but what's really astonishing is that 110 of them combined raise only 10% of the total revenue collected. You just know that when you see something like this, you are looking at some makeshift, patchwork approach to taxation. It begs the question - why not just get rid of those 110 taxes and adjust the other 10 to raise the required revenue?
Not only would there be no shortfall in tax collected but money would also be being saved, both for the government and the taxpayer, through simplifying the process. Any criticism over the increases to the other taxes could easily be countered by pointing out that 110 taxes have vanished (and which politician wouldn't like to be able to take the credit for having made that happen). The only people who would be unhappy would be accountants and lawyers, so it must be a good idea.
This morning I heard that Austalia has 120 taxes. Now that would seem to me to be a large number, but what's really astonishing is that 110 of them combined raise only 10% of the total revenue collected. You just know that when you see something like this, you are looking at some makeshift, patchwork approach to taxation. It begs the question - why not just get rid of those 110 taxes and adjust the other 10 to raise the required revenue?
Not only would there be no shortfall in tax collected but money would also be being saved, both for the government and the taxpayer, through simplifying the process. Any criticism over the increases to the other taxes could easily be countered by pointing out that 110 taxes have vanished (and which politician wouldn't like to be able to take the credit for having made that happen). The only people who would be unhappy would be accountants and lawyers, so it must be a good idea.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Sport of Kings? Hardly!
All the kerfuffle last weekend over what was said between the trainer and owner of More Joyous has resulted in even more comment and editorialising than usual over the relationship between gambling and sport.
Now, don't get me wrong, that's a debate worth having, but it's certainly not worth having over horse-racing. Does anybody really regard horse-racing as a sport? It's surely only ever been a vehicle (non-pun intended) for gambling. Who keeps up with who's winning the jockey's championship or which is the leading stable and I'm only assuming that records of these things actually exist. They sure aren't reported on. Ironically, if they do exist, the only people outside the industry who could tell you about them would be the gamblers.
Whenever horse-racing is reported on in the sports news, it's not accompanied by any league ladder or speed/time results - they just tell you how much money you'd have won had you backed the winner or the top 3. Imagine the football results being given by only showing you the the pick-the-score and pick-the-margins dividends.
If horse racing is a sport, let's start seeing it in the news without the gambling information. After all, they don't announce the lottery results in the sports segment, do they?
Now, don't get me wrong, that's a debate worth having, but it's certainly not worth having over horse-racing. Does anybody really regard horse-racing as a sport? It's surely only ever been a vehicle (non-pun intended) for gambling. Who keeps up with who's winning the jockey's championship or which is the leading stable and I'm only assuming that records of these things actually exist. They sure aren't reported on. Ironically, if they do exist, the only people outside the industry who could tell you about them would be the gamblers.
Whenever horse-racing is reported on in the sports news, it's not accompanied by any league ladder or speed/time results - they just tell you how much money you'd have won had you backed the winner or the top 3. Imagine the football results being given by only showing you the the pick-the-score and pick-the-margins dividends.
If horse racing is a sport, let's start seeing it in the news without the gambling information. After all, they don't announce the lottery results in the sports segment, do they?
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
More Working Four The Weekend
It's been a while since I last mused on anything and to make matters worse, I'm musing something on I've previously mentioned but the gloom that follows a long weekend, and an especially longer weekend for Easter, is an unavoidable matter for contemplation.
The simple fact is: the four days after a 4-day weekend are always harder than the four days leading up to it.
Perhaps it's the anticipation of the long weekend that makes the first week seem easier or perhaps it's the sadness at the realisation that it's over, and usually in my case, how I've wasted it, that makes the second week seem so hard by comparison.
More than that though, I think it's because having enjoyed a 4-day weekend, you realise that this is how you would prefer it to be. Every weekend.
The simple fact is: the four days after a 4-day weekend are always harder than the four days leading up to it.
Perhaps it's the anticipation of the long weekend that makes the first week seem easier or perhaps it's the sadness at the realisation that it's over, and usually in my case, how I've wasted it, that makes the second week seem so hard by comparison.
More than that though, I think it's because having enjoyed a 4-day weekend, you realise that this is how you would prefer it to be. Every weekend.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
No Trace ATM
Whenever I use an ATM and am prompted "Would you like a receipt for this transaction?", I always find myself wishing that it was offering me the "Would you like a record kept of this transaction?" option. To which, of course, I would press "No".
That way I could just keep making withdrawals without ever affecting my balance.
That way I could just keep making withdrawals without ever affecting my balance.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
There Should Be A Law About...Umbrellas!
After three days of rain, one can only be struck, often literally so, by the lack of etiquette regarding the use of umbrellas.
A lot of the Sydney CBD is fortunately under cover, which is handy on a rainy day. It would be even more handy if people didn't walk under those awnings with their umbrellas up.
The menace comes in two forms. The first is the District 9 Mothership-sized umbrella-wielding individual. Yes, it's a great umbrella but why are you worried about getting it wet? The second is the usually shorter person operating in ostrich-stealth mode, umbrella pulled tightly down around their head, completely oblivious to everybody else ducking and weaving around them trying to avoid getting their eyes poked out.
It's simple really. If you've got your umbrella up, you can walk in the rain; that's what it's for. If you want to walk under cover alongside the less-prepared, please take it down.
A lot of the Sydney CBD is fortunately under cover, which is handy on a rainy day. It would be even more handy if people didn't walk under those awnings with their umbrellas up.
The menace comes in two forms. The first is the District 9 Mothership-sized umbrella-wielding individual. Yes, it's a great umbrella but why are you worried about getting it wet? The second is the usually shorter person operating in ostrich-stealth mode, umbrella pulled tightly down around their head, completely oblivious to everybody else ducking and weaving around them trying to avoid getting their eyes poked out.
It's simple really. If you've got your umbrella up, you can walk in the rain; that's what it's for. If you want to walk under cover alongside the less-prepared, please take it down.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Close The Openings
I heard today that 4.5 billion people watched the Olympic opening ceremony. That's a lot of people. I wasn't one of them. I just don't get the whole point of having hours of people dancing and singing before a sports event.
Accepting however, that there is clearly a huge audience of people not like me, I don't see why they don't save a lot of money by dropping the sport event altogether and just holding the opening ceremony. You wouldn't have to build new stadiums or an athletes village. You wouldn't need the athletes. You also wouldn't have to wait every four years. Conversely, and most importantly, having had all these cermonies through the year, when we did actually get round to having a sporting event, you then wouldn't need an opening ceremony to accompany it. That way, when the next Olympics comes around, I could just sit down on the first evening and watch some sport!
Accepting however, that there is clearly a huge audience of people not like me, I don't see why they don't save a lot of money by dropping the sport event altogether and just holding the opening ceremony. You wouldn't have to build new stadiums or an athletes village. You wouldn't need the athletes. You also wouldn't have to wait every four years. Conversely, and most importantly, having had all these cermonies through the year, when we did actually get round to having a sporting event, you then wouldn't need an opening ceremony to accompany it. That way, when the next Olympics comes around, I could just sit down on the first evening and watch some sport!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Election Fever
At least that's what the papers and the pollsters would have us believe but I don't think so.
A quick look at the Top 5 articles from the 4 Fairfax papers on the Web at lunchtime only had one election story making the top 5 across all 4 of them. And that single story only came in at No. 5 in The Age.
Forget the election! Based on the Top 5 list, the scintillating topics of a 30-second boxing match, an intruder, a fake iPod t-shirt, a disappointing city in Indonesia (but sadly, not a disappointed horse), a car-crash, Jason Akermanis getting sacked and even a maid receiving an inheritance all tickled our fancy more.
Clearly everyone is finding this election pretty dull and there's still 5 more miserable weeks to go. Wouldn't it be great though if the media paid attention to their own sites and noticed just how uninterested we are in this election?
Maybe they could stop covering it for the next 5 weeks! I might even buy the paper...
A quick look at the Top 5 articles from the 4 Fairfax papers on the Web at lunchtime only had one election story making the top 5 across all 4 of them. And that single story only came in at No. 5 in The Age.
Forget the election! Based on the Top 5 list, the scintillating topics of a 30-second boxing match, an intruder, a fake iPod t-shirt, a disappointing city in Indonesia (but sadly, not a disappointed horse), a car-crash, Jason Akermanis getting sacked and even a maid receiving an inheritance all tickled our fancy more.
Clearly everyone is finding this election pretty dull and there's still 5 more miserable weeks to go. Wouldn't it be great though if the media paid attention to their own sites and noticed just how uninterested we are in this election?
Maybe they could stop covering it for the next 5 weeks! I might even buy the paper...
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Alphabet City
Forget the British election, the salary cap and the environment. Has anyone ever noticed that Australia's capital cities when ranked in alphabetical order are almost perfect?
Adelaide,
Brisbane,
Canberra,
Darwin,
E...,
F...,
G...
Hobart,
Now, if NSW, West Australia and Victoria got their acts together and replaced Sydney, Perth and Melbourne with Ettalong, Fremantle and Geelong, it would be perfect!
Adelaide,
Brisbane,
Canberra,
Darwin,
E...,
F...,
G...
Hobart,
Now, if NSW, West Australia and Victoria got their acts together and replaced Sydney, Perth and Melbourne with Ettalong, Fremantle and Geelong, it would be perfect!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Why Don't We Have...Fake Archive Records
When you've only just started a blog, your archive is all but empty; it looks pretty uninteresting.
You should be able to install an existing archive from somewhere to give your blog at least the appearance of gravitas and longevity!
A complete forum would be good too...
You should be able to install an existing archive from somewhere to give your blog at least the appearance of gravitas and longevity!
A complete forum would be good too...
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday And Somewhere I'd Rather Be...
What can you say about Mondays that hasn't been said before? I remember reading somewhere that one way to get over the post-holiday blues was to use your holiday photos in a screensaver. I've certainly done that before and it is a great way to remember the good times you had. So, I'm going to use the same approach for Mondays. And today's picture is from Ao Phra Nang, Krabi in Southern Thailand.I first visited Krabi with my mate Barry back in 1990. The beach was Ao Phra Nang and there was nothing but a few huts there. It was quiet. Too much so for us. We even built a sand-woman for something to do. What can I say? We were young and impatient!
It was however, one of the most beautiful beaches I ever saw and the memory of it stayed with me forever. Funnily enough, Barry tells me he has a picture of it on his desk at work so it struck him likewise. Earlier this year, we returned to Krabi for the first time in 20 years to see how it has changed. It's as beautiful as ever. A lot more people though!
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