I’ve always admired all of DJ Ajax’s stuff, especially his Bang Gang DJs stuff (like the Light Sound Dance Grey Disc). I was saddened to read this tonight:
“DJ Ajax was crossing a road in Parkville, an inner-Melbourne suburb, in the early hours of 28 February 2013 when he was hit by a truck and died at the scene.”
RIP dude.
“Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.”
I’ve been thinking about travel a lot lately. In the past I have made a big mistake of returning to places overseas I’ve already been to, and inevitably they were never as good as the first time. So, I’m proposing some new rules for travel:
“Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe you should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
It brought me back to life”
~ John Mayer: ’3×5′
Update: 8 October 2012
I probably should clarify: traveling domestically to the same place, eg. Byron Bay, to relax is good, and preferable. Traveling overseas for adventures should be to different places and traveling overseas for relaxation is not on.
This is screwed up:
“This is not an issue of credit rating. The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that”
Alan Greenspan on the USA’s credit rating being downgraded on the weekend.
Print more money? Seriously? Is that really the solution to the whole world, Australia included, being addicted to debt and having been on one huge debt binge for the last decade? Confidence inspiring.
Video here.
The State Library of Queensland, South Brisbane.
Australia is one of only three countries in the world that allow speculators to negative gear:
Deduction of negative gearing losses on property against income from other sources for the purpose of reducing income tax is illegal in the vast majority of countries, the exceptions being Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
We went to see Fat Freddy’s Drop tonight at the Tivoli in Brisbane. It was one of two Australian shows this month, so we felt pretty special to see them live again. We had choice spot on the upper right balcony which meant the view was especially awesome.
Their new material was especially enjoyable, I look forward to their new album later this year.
“Amy and Wes Rogers are 32-year-old parents of two young boys and the owners of four investment properties, one of which they are selling because they are frightened the government may abandon negative gearing on investment properties.”
This cry-poor article in the Australian newspaper about a family with four investment properties made me feel sick. Seriously, there are struggling Australian families that can’t even afford one drastically overpriced dwelling to house their own family, let alone four as investments, or five if you count their own house.
At least there is a little schadenfreude thrown in for good measure.
But the market is working against the Rogers. The house has been on the market for more than 180 days and, although there have been many viewers, there have been no real offers and the agent has already persuaded them to drop the price by $20,000 to $290,000.
“And now they want us to drop it by another $35,000,” she says. “This house we are trying to sell is tied to another in the way we financed it, and, if we sell Oakdale at this low price, the bank will require a valuation on the other property that’s tied in, and then, if negative gearing laws change, we believe it will drop the value of that second property.” If that happened, they would be left with the much higher original debt to service.
I’ve spent a number of weeks in Sydney for work, and I’ve grown to love the place. I’ve been working in North Sydney, and staying in a serviced apartment in Miller’s Point (near Darling Habour). On occasions, I walk home admiring the spectacular harbour view the whole way.
Because of daylight savings (something we don’t have in Brisbane) I’ve walked to Bondi Beach from Miller’s Point after work (about 10km), and ate fish and chips on the beach.
The view from my office isn’t bad either.
I also managed to find some street art around the city, but it was part of an exhibition, which kinda isn’t the same.
I love this quote I found by someone who has recently migrated to Australia from Switzerland.
I live here now since October 2008 and I still haven’t a house but I didn’t expect this to happen anyway.
What concerns me more is that I had to over think my decade-long statement. Where is [sic] the Aussie lifestyle gone to?… Nowadays Australians are under a lot of pressure seems to me that they now live to work as well. And no wonder – look at your prices – one example :
- I live in a Mango tree town – they are just everywhere – why does Wollies sell them for 2 Dollar each?
In fact I have a lot of “why” questions!
- Why do healthy things like Broccoli cost 8 Dollars a kilo when MacDonalds gives you the Supersize-me deal for 4.95?
- Why did Australians overtake Americans on the scales?
- Why is everything “mobil” (phones, internet) so expensive?
- Why can I buy things “No Deposit – No interest – till 2015″?
- Why is Joyce Maine and Harvey Norman shouting at me in their ads?
- Why do the Good Guys not dance when I step into their Establishment?
- Why do I have to drive 130 km for a simple Ultrasonic scan?
- Why are houses priced and not valued?
- Why can Australians afford so much with so little pay?
I love quotes lie this because it shows how quickly we’ve lost our shoshin and have forgot to question things. An example is how stupidly houses are in Australia. While the world laughs at us, we just accept that houses are ridiculously expensive, instead of asking why, and doing something to correct it.
It won’t be too long before people clue-on and find somewhere where things make sense.
