http://www.tubagooba.com Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:15:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en There's been a study that says (according to the summary in The Age: [A]cademically gifted VCE students at schools that had introduced a technical stream, which included nearly all schools in less affluent areas — were less likely to win a university place than before. VCAL is presented as being the enemy. ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=370 Between September 25 and October 1 in Melbourne, the Melbourne International Festival of Brass is happening. If you haven't heard about it, you're not alone - the smallness of the marketing budget is such that no-one but brass players ever gets to hear about it (and lots of them ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=369 I read as to how British airlines are now letting people bring laptops on planes again: [T]he UK authorities announced that passengers will now be allowed to bring a single piece of hand luggage measuring 45cm by 35cm by 16cm onto planes. Laptops and other electrical items can be stuffed into ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=368 I don't mind all that much being approached in shopping centres by people trying to sell things or solicit donations to charities. I don't like being rung up on the phone, and I don't like being approached on a public street (which has been happening more and more regularly ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=367 We got a shiny new bus stop this morning. It's a nice, colourful Metlink panel with lots of useful information and the proud logo of the Hope Street Bus Service across the top. It replaced an old stop that looked like this: The HSBS is an oddity of Melbourne's public transport ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=366 Gregory Melleuish has written a paper for the upcoming history summit, which apparently aims to counter the perception that "Australian history is crap … 'cause nothing happened"'. What's his answer? [Melluish believes that] there is a tendency for Australian history lessons to "exclude or marginalise" many significant elements. "These include economic development issues, ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=363 There's an article in today's EG by Michael Dwyer, titled "Bit-pop overload", talking about the impact of internet marketing and distribution on the music industry. It's an interesting article in that it avoids adherence to either of the two clichéd mainstream-media takes on the state of the music industry. ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=362 I've had my share of dodginess in internet transactions, so I thought it was worth making a note of an instance where shopping online proved to be wholly excellent. So here's the story of how I bought a new battery for my PDA. If your eyes are glazing ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=361 The right hand two-thirds of the Herald Sun's front page today is dedicated to a story about the union rally that's happening at the MCG on November 30 (full text under a different headline here). The headline is "MCG RALLY RIFT". The rift, it turns out, is between ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=360 I recently read Journal of a Novel, the collection of letters which John Steinbeck wrote to his publisher over the ten months it took to write East of Eden. Steinbeck wrote his first draft in a large notebook, using the right hand pages to write the book and the ... http://www.tubagooba.com/?p=358