First they came for my electricity, and I did nothing. Then they came for my gas, and I did nothing. Then they came for my electricity again, and I got mad and blogged about it. Now they have come for my internet. and my phone. and my Sky TV. I arrived back home here in …
Continue reading “All my utilities have now been arbitrarily cut off”
I was at a friend’s house the other night, and we were trying to work online. The DSL router/modem was working just fine, our phones and computers were all just fine, but no internet. The ISP was XNET, who have no phone customer service at night after 8pm – which is not exactly a quiet …
This story of busting a $15m poker scam by and Australian is fantastic – and is a wonderful demonstration of the benefits of being open with your customers. The full story is on poker community site twoplustwo, and has been going on for a while. Customers of Canadian tribe owned AbsolutePoker and UltimateBet analysed poker …
Beautiful art and science combine once again at XKCD
Markets have them all the time, and it is finally here – judgment day. The day when lousy economics and fundamentals get confronted with harsh reality and bright lights. Prices plummet, businesses fail and jobs and economies fall. My portfolio was hedged against this day – indeed it even went up, though not to the …
From beautiful Cape Leveque, which is North is Broome, I woke in my tent to the dawn light. After visiting a local community, it is time to return. The day before I fielded several phone calls from companies I am involved with, received the final investment documents and call for cash for a new one, …
Two interesting signs, showing that yes, you are in Western Australia. The first $22 per hour for cleaners. Despite these rates (similar for waiting tables) travellers tend to stay only a few weeks and then move on. Indeed folk arriving in, say, Broome can pick up a decent paying job within a day. The second …
So I’m cruising up and down the Gibb River Road, which goes through the Kimberlies (and has no cell/3g coverage). Along the way on this trip I have varied between free camping in the desert, camp site or a motel/resort. Right now I am in Mornington Wilderness Camp, which is primarily a chunk of land …
First some rants; “nz” gets auto changed into “ms”, and the auto replacement function does not learn from its’ mistakes. Safari keeps crashing, with increasing regularity YouTube videos simply do not work anymore I can’t flip photos in wordpress Mail does not flip horizontally, making it really hard to read HTML emails that assume a …
It’s the main drag from alice springs to the northwest, so I was expecting the Tanami Road to be pretty good. It was, but vast tracts were still unacceptabe for locals. I cruise at 100-110km, regardless of terrain. The worst roads are deep sand and sandy corrugations, and there was a bit of the first …
As mentioned I ran into tire trouble near Ayers rock- in fact 8km from the Yulara resort. The rear tire went flat, but thanks to local bus driver Tony Fox (and some patient passengers, 2 of whom I met today) the luggage was taken to the resort, and I pumped the tire up and staggered …
The laws about alcohol are pretty interesting in rural, or, Aboriginal, Australia. This sign is on a road into Alice Springs, and the penalties for drinking in public are displayed.. Tipping out – sure. A fine (and that’s a lot of money if you are unemployed) – well sure. But a court order to stop …
Sure the locals stilll seem to call the big rock ‘Ayer’s rock’ rather than ‘Uluru’, but nothing excuses me mistaking this for the big rock. It was sunset as I approached the national park and it does look stunning though. The actual rock is much larger, though not as pretty, at least after sunset and …
On the one hand it’s great for people like me that there are vast roads of days of sand and corrugations. It was tough at first but ultimately I was skimming through the sand pit that is the NT part of the great central road. Some of the road has not been graded for months, …
From Kalgoorlie to Leonora was kangaroo country – with dead roos every 150 meters on average for much of the ride. I am not kidding. So playing safe I stopped well before dark, which is when the roos come out to play (and lose badly) ‘chicken’ with the four trailer roadtrains. Once here I dropped …
Lance Wiggs 