As some of you may known I’ve complained in the past mainly on Twitter about annoying advertising campaigns that get run on the home page of The Age. You know, those annoying Flash based ads that take up the entire screen and are so poorly optimised they slow down your browser (and suck up your bandwidth).
Well The Age has taken this to new heights by changing the backgrounds on pages and blasting you with skyscraper and banner ads. The problems is they don’t seem to have got the contextual bit right…
I was looking for a specific location on Google Maps and while browsing, came across this:
Apparently, Moonee Ponds KFC has been moonlighting as the Royal Melbourne Hospital complete with drive-through service for express operations.
I still subscribe to Connex SMS updates for the Cragieburn line even though I rarely use the train to get around. Now that I work in North Melbourne I find it more convenient to take the tram despite it being slower and more crowded.
This morning I received a totally random SMS update at 6:59:
Travel Alert – Due to vandalism, this train will be a 3 Car Train, This train will run express B’meadows to Essendon to Nth Melb.
I guess telling passengers which service will be affected is unimportant.
On the 2nd of April I used Yarra Trams’ Tram Tracker service to find out the arrive time of the next 57 Tram to Abbotsford St interchange. The SMS was sent at 8:40 AM and the response received at 8:43 AM. Then later on in the evening at 7:43 PM I received the following SMS from Tram Tracker:
Today (02/04) your tramTRACKER query received a delayed response. This external issue has been resolved. We apologise for any inconvinience. Feedback 1800800166
The only reason I’m writing about this is because I didn’t even notice that the SMS was late since in the past it has usually taken 2-3 minutes to get a response from Tram Tracker anyway. So I find it impressive that they would send out an SMS to apologise for an error. Then again someone probably complained and made a fuss hence the reason for the SMS.
Being unemployed for 4 months taught me a few things about being prudent with money. No matter what people say we are going head first into a recession. I don’t understand why it’s happening to Australians and ordinary blue-collared workers who have done the right thing all their lives.
But this is the capitalist market after all and someone has to get burned.
This brings me to Kevin Rudd’s $900 stimulus bonus which will arriving in a letter box near you in April. Personally, I don’t agree with the idea of giving people money to spend on a new TV – a TV most likely made in Japan or China.
The last lot of stimulus checks mainly went to pensioners and was funneled directly into poker machines which I believe is not only selfish but a total waste of hard working taxpayers money. Money that could be spent on major infrastructure improvements such as the fabled National Broadband Network or implementing ‘Green Energy’ projects. But I digress.
I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do with my $900 and my first decision is that it’ll be most likely banked in my term deposit. But then again I hear that for every stimulus check that gets banked Wayne Swan kills a kitten and besides Kevin Rudd has already told us that unless we spend it the terrorists will win.
With this in mind, I was considering alternatives to banking the money. One alternative would be to take a holiday. When the money gets tight people tend to stay at home and overseas tourists stay away. With this plan you’d be actually helping other Australians by keeping them in a job. Imagine all the people that rely on tourism dollars: taxi drivers, pilots, air hosts, hotel staff, waiters, chefs and tour guides. Not only would you be able to take some time off while your boss types up your pink slip you’ll be helping others.
Ah who cares, I’m gonna bank it.
Went up to Sydney on Sunday to see Eric Clapton in concert. Unlike the last trip there is nothing interesting to report.
Steve the forman says: “…while the cranes might not speed up construction of the new Children’s Hospital, they certainly make us look busy…”
Update: So there is actually a reason why those cranes haven’t been moving.
One of the great things about being able to write PHP code is having a little fun with it once in a while. Since I now work in North Melbourne, I have the privilege of being able to partake in some nice cafes and restaurants within a short walk of the office. Because of this, I am regularly stuck deciding what to have for lunch.
To solve this problem, I decided to write a PHP script to randomly suggest a place to go for lunch from a predefined list. To make it work with as little overhead as possible I’m using the SimpleXML library which is built into the recent versions of PHP.
For most PHP developers SimpleXML can be described as a godsend. The fact that it makes it easy to load and parse any XML file or feed means you can make some pretty nifty (or totally pointless) applications. While this is totally pointless, hopefully it demonstrates how easy it is to work with XML files in PHP.
The PHP Script…
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| <h1>Where Shall I Eat Today?</h1>
<?php
if (file_exists('lunch.xml')):
$xml = simplexml_load_file('lunch.xml');
$total = count($xml->place);
$rand = rand(0, $total - 1);
$record = $xml->place[$rand];
?>
<h2><?=$record->name; ?></h2>
<?php else : ?>
<p>Failed to open lunch.xml. No food for you.</p>
<?php endif; ?> |
Next, you need to create a XML File…
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| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<places>
<place>
<name>Fergursons</name>
</place>
<place>
<name>Subway</name>
</place>
<place>
<name>Place On Victoria St</name>
</place>
<place>
<name>Chinese Place that does self serve</name>
</place>
</places> |
So there you have it, PHP + Simple XML + XML = Lunch problems solved.
Download Eat – A PHP Script
