This morning, toll collectors on the SHB will strike for an hour in protest at State Government proposals to make all toll collection on the bridge ‘cashless’ (using electronic tags).

I can understand that toll collectors are fearful for their future employment—after all, if no cash tools are to be collected, there would seem to be [...]

Apparently this happened when this brakes on this “windmill” failed during strong winds. Quite amazing and frightening.

Some time ago, I wrote about the silliness of laser printer pricing compared to drum+toner prices.

Today, the drum and toner in my old printer needed to be replaced. So I installed a new printer (same as the old one – Brother HL-2040) which cost $A95. Cost of a new drum plus new toner would have [...]

Telstra recently upgraded my cable service—they say speeds may be as high as 30Mbps.

According to my latest test, I can download (subject to network traffic as usual) at 35Mbps. Wow.

Question: why is it impossible (in Australia) to buy unscented spray-on deodorant? It used to be freely available, but the major manufacturers have dropped ‘unscented’ from their spray-on ranges.

Why?

Do people like to smell like deodorant?

Apart from me, does anybody care?

I know, it’s been a while. I’ve been busy. Many things have happened at once, namely:

I had a sermon to prepare and preach at church (on Mark 12:41-44)
I had a Preliminary Theological Certificate exam to prepare for (New Testament 1)
I went through a string of interviews for a new (full time) job—which I have secured.

So, [...]

Click here for details.

Some readers would know that in recent months I have been made an ‘Air Experience Instructor’ at our gliding club. This is the bottom rung of the instructor ranking system—I’m not authorised to teach people to fly gliders, but I am authorised to take people on ‘Air Experience Flights’ (similar to a joyflight – but [...]

And it’s about time, too!

Stare at the image – very deeply. After a while, you should be able to discern a giraffe. (Click ‘more’ to go to the illusion…)

In a recent episode of Top Gear, Jeremy, Richard and James drove supercars across France to visit the Millau Viaduct (bridge).

I could not believe my eyes when they showed this structure on telly. It is magnificent, mind-blowing, beautiful, stark. The 450 pixels I allow for photo widths here on flyingnerd.com simply can’t do it justice. [...]

My gliding exploits last week brought home to me very clearly the desperate situation facing farming families during the current drought.

From 8,000’ in the air, you can see a long way (especially from the excellent vantage point of a glider cockpit – much less restricted vision compared to a passenger window in a normal aircraft). [...]

My eyes have been opened. Now I want to know how this broadband thingy works…

“There is no end to red-neck ingenuity.”

I noticed a press release today, issued by my former employer. The release (one page of normal-sized type) was accompanied by this fabulous disclaimer (one page of small type):

If you read my post some time ago about rainwater tanks, you’d know that our home has a new deck out the back. Here it is:

Our rainforest-like back yard is really delightful—cool, green and lush. Lots of birds visit us (I saw a glorious red and blue rosella this morning).

For years, we have also been [...]