Rubénerd!

Remember my post earlier this week about Julia Gillard and Labor cutting university education spending in Australia? An excerpt from an article in The Age, retweeted by @Sebasu_tan on Twitter:

But [opposition leader] Mr Abbott said he would maintain the changes to university funding which the government announced earlier this month as a way of paying for the increased money that it wants to give to primary and secondary schools.

"I don’t think anyone should expect those cuts to be reversed," Mr Abbott said.

Surprising no one.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, told Fairfax Media that Mr Abbott was locking children into "being left behind".

Rich.

From my girlfriend Clara's site:

I heard today that uni funding has been cut again [..] the gist is that the 10% discount on upfront payments of HECs will be scrapped, voluntary paying back of HECs loans will lose the 5% bonus and Student Start Up Scholarships must be repaid once the student starts working.

The constant political infighting, the watering down of the Mining Tax, this complete and utter contempt for university students and the future of the country (paying back "scholarships" is my favourite)... I regard this current Australian government as nothing but a joke at this stage.

But here's the truly depressing thing. Labor knows I would never vote for the conservative coalition under Tony Abbott, so they know for people like me they can get away with this. I've seen Labor MPs on Twitter defend the plan by saying Tony Abbott would be worse. What a platform.

Update

Great catch from by Alex Masso on Twitter, seen via Greens Senator Christine Milne:

senatormilne: RT @alexmasso: "I fervently believe in and will continue to advocate that increases be made in funding the university sector" - David Gonski

It's the built in excuse every Sydneysider has heard a million times: I was late because of CityRail. Today an alleged "twisted wire" overhead caused delays or total outages across two of the lines, including the ones my girlfriend Clara and I take to commute to town. Over all, a 37 minute express trip turned into a two hour ordeal with packed replacement buses and a skipped connecting train because of overcrowding.

Where to begin!?

The problems with the CityRail system (or "network" as they refer to it as) are too numerous and complex to detail here. From what I've seen as an outsider moving back to Sydney, most of these issues stem from the system's age, the lack of foresight and planning that went into various line extensions, chronic lack of investment, and the bizarre convolution of CBD metro and suburban rail into one tangled, brittle, fragile mess.

Numerous politicians have proposed to fix the system. Our latest transport minister talked a big game as she entered her seat in state parliament, but unsurprisingly has failed to deliver. The problem is all these issues will take planning and foresight that will last longer than an election cycle to implement, and no politician wants future leaders taking credit for their work. Democracy in a nutshell.

What we need is for the City Circle to be severed from the rest of the network (ah they have me calling it that no!), expanded and turned into a true metro system. The suburban trains should be expanded with more lines and stations, and their electrical systems completely re-engineered. The result would be a more reliable, efficient system more people would use.

Of course the chances of those happening are slim to absolutely-friggen-nothing, so I propose a shorter term band-aid solution that's so simple even our current Premier will understand.

Image by Kishi Nisen on Pixiv!

More communication

Most times when something bad happens, the poor staff at CityRail stations seem to know little more than we do as commuters. Automated announcements regularly contradict themselves. The CityRail website offers terse explanations.

It's akin to going to a doctor and having he or she tell us that condition isn't anything to worry about, but that we need a ton of tests and we should prepare a will just in case.

We just want to know what's going on, and how we can get to where we're going. You have all those wonderful LCD monitors everywhere, why not use them more effectively during such problems? Whichever system you're using to inform your staff, it's not enough. I can't imagine how much grief they must get when another piece of your failing network falls off, and they're the public face of the corporation that irate passengers have to deal with.

I'd love for the system to be fixed, but for now I'd just appreciate more information. Be kept in the loop, as it were. That's not too much to ask for, is it?

If I were into paranormal stuff, I'd claim it was a syncronicity.

Today, in Sydney:

Trains across most of the CityRail network are delayed up to 40 minutes after a fire safety alarm activated because of smoke in the Strathfield Signalling Complex earlier.

Today, in Singapore:

[a fire in an MRT tunnel] involving electrical wiring disrupted train services on the North-South line at about 9.05am. [..] Train services between Marina Bay and Toa Payoh stations resumed at 11.30am

So a fire alarm goes off, and the entire CityRail network goes down in Sydney for the rest of the day. A fire hits the Singapore MRT, and the affected line is fixed in less than 3 hours. Good to know.

Photo of the Newton MRT station by Terence Ong. Newton was the station I lived closest to for most of my time in SG, funnily enough ^_^

Here's an article from the Australian ABC. Tell me if you can spot the problem.

A fully-marked New South Wales police highway patrol car has been stolen. Police say highway patrol officers stopped a car on the M7 near the Richmond Road off-ramp in western Sydney at around midday. Officers say there was an altercation and the driver of the car struggled with police before breaking free and stealing their fully-marked highway patrol car. The driver, identified as Arthur Partsch, was last seen travelling north in the light blue Holden Commodore sedan. Officers have warned anyone who sees the car not to approach it, but to contact Triple-0.

Did you catch it?

We're being warned to call the police if we see a patrol car. I wonder how many calls they must have got from people spotting all the hundreds of cars on active duty?

I avoid Australian terrestrial television like the plague, but fortunately I was tweeted that Channel 9 informed us of the licence plate of the specific patrol car in question. Georgina even went one step further and (shock!) told me what it was!

So a lesson for reporters appealing for information from the public: give us the specifics as well. I wouldn't want to sick the SOS-Dan force on you.

I am fully aware of the (albeit reversed) insinuation kaeru on Pixiv was... insinuating. Still, after a full day of heat in Sydney yesterday, and a terribly hot sticky night (I'm not doing anything to help this insinuation), the late morning was positively refreshing by comparison.

It's amazing how one merely has to spend a day being blown at by nature's hair dryer to render an otherwise normal summer day with a gentle sea breeze feel so wonderful.

The WordPress ID for this entry is 10707, the ending of which was Boeing's first commercial jetliner. I'm going to pretend this was done on purpose somehow to coincide with my passing mention of breezes. That made sense in my head.

Fortunately, I was able to ride out most of the intense heat at the UTS library with Clara today. Plenty of people weren't as lucky.

My first 2013 post, my first K-On! post of 2013, the first post from my adorable new 11" MacBook Air, and the first 2013 K-On! post from my adorable new 11" MacBook Air!

The image on the left is by おまる@3日目西“け”23b on Pixiv, the image on the left is the video I took of the Sydney fireworks from my iTelephone 4 in the company of some wonderful friends, and especially Clara ^_^.

Peace, health, sillyness and happiness for the new year to you all.

Little did I know when I posted that link back in August that I'd be seeing PSY perform Gangnam Style LIVE in Sydney with @hanezawakirika and @JamieJakov!

From the Sunrise breakfast show website:

Venue: Martin Place Plaza Amphitheatre, Sydney

Time: 6am-9am

Korean pop sensation Psy is coming to Sunrise! The man behind global hit "Gangnam Style" will be LIVE outside our studio on Wednesday 17th October and we want you to come and join in the fun!

Psy will perform "Gangnam Style" in what is destined to go down in Sunrise history.

Have you learned the dance yet? You'd better brush up - we want you all to join in!

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, sexy lady~!

I'm very, VERY picky when it comes to choosing my favourite songs of all time. My Rubens Top 40 List contains only 12 songs, to leave room for more. Most of them are jazz (and most of those are Michael Franks), but then there are timeless, TIMELESS songs like Surfin' Bird. Everybody's heard. From me. THOUSANDS of times!

A few months ago, our former Anime@UTS club president Dom introduced us to Gangnam Style. I'd explain it, but I could not hope to do it justice. It screams brilliant epicness. It's Korean. The dance moves are as addictive as they are wonderfully fun and accessible for a nerd like me. PSY has more style than a cobra. To a Westerner, the music video is wonderfully Monty Python-esque, but also utterly unique and friggen brilliant.

Most of all, I just feel so energetic and happy listening to it, and I still crack the biggest smile watching the music video. PSY has really created something special here, and I'm thoroughly unashamed to admit it. I've never danced as much before in my life. YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN'?

Ttwiineun nom keu wiie naneun nom

I'd worked almost all night on a data mining assignment, and I had to force myself out of bed at the crack of dawn to pull it off, but this morning I met with two of my dearest friends to see PSY perform for the Sunrise Breakfast show. And it was EPIC!

Much of Martin Place was fenced off with large... what are they called again? FENCES! Inside, a makeshift stage had been set up, and outside were packed an even mix of Koreans, other Asians and Westerners all jumping around waiting to see PSY. It was open air, and utterly free!

PSY came out wearing an utterly fabulous sparkly black vest with "PSY" in gold on the back, a bevy of dancers and bright lights that cut through the early morning sky like a thrusting pelvis appearing behind a lift door. He sang to the song with the pre-recorded synthed instruments, but otherwise jumped around did all the dance moves we know and love. Or at least, I think he did, given the crowd was so thick and I couldn't see much most of the time. The atmosphere was AMAZING!

Aussie Aussie Aussie... PSY PSY PSY!

After the performance which was broadcast love across Australia, the morning show hosts performed their regular small talk. He took off his trademark glasses, and was handed a plushie koala and kangaroo. He was utterly gracious. I'm saying utterly a lot, it's utterly too much!

To return to where this post started HEEEEEEY SEXY LADY I'm just so overwhelmed that I saw a performer on my top song list. He's the first one.

Years from now, I'll remember this, and smile. What a defining moment ^_^

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With all the chaos on CityRail today, this incident seems almost quaint. Still, wrote it up last night, so may as well release!

So I was making my way home from a particularly wonderful date, and was still feeling rather giddy. As I made my way to Town Hall station, I joked to myself that even a broken down train couldn't dampen my spirits. It seems I was overheard ;).

After waiting the usual amount of time on Platform 6 for our Airport and East Hills Line Revesby service, we boarded the tin can S-series strain at Town Hall, and proceeded around the City Circle without incident. Admittedly the carriage I was sitting in seemed a little louder and rattlier than usual, but it didn't bother me.

It was when we arrived at Central that we got the first inkling that something was wrong. While frantically tweeting before being plunged into the Airport Line tunnel (which has barely enough usable phone reception to send a text message let alone use data) our driver informed us that "the train has malfunctioning doors, and to please stand clear of them".

Malfunctioning doors, huh?

As we proceeded into their Airport Line tunnel, it became clear something was amiss. From my vantage point on the second level I couldn't visually make out what was going on, but I started hearing loud swearing, followed by even louder rattling sounds. That bone chilling metal-on-metal grinding sound... and it was only getting louder.

It wasn't long before the lights in our carriage started to flicker and go out, causing me great inconvenience as I sat there attempting to read my eInk Kindle! Around that time we started to decelerate, and eventually came to a stop inside the tunnel between Central and Green Square.

After a few minutes of sitting there doing nothing, people in my carriage started worrying and discussing what was going on. The driver came on the PA and informed us there was a door malfunction, and that he'd let us know what was going on shortly. An engineer in a CityRail uniform walked past us in the carriage and back down the stairs, obviously to see what was going on.

Fifteen odd minutes past, and the train jerked into motion again, the way only the older R/S series trainsets can without their chopper control! We didn't seem to be going as fast as usual though, meaning our trip to Green Square seemed to take far longer than usual. When we arrived, we sat there for another few minutes, before being told the last two carriages in our train were being shut down and locked, and that we'd have to move down one!

We huddled in this carriage, now clearly full to capacity with these extra people, and stared through the window into the one we'd just left. It looked eerie through the darkness of the tunnel; the lights kept flickering and the malfunctioning doors kept shaking around and causing all sorts of noise. It was downright creepy!

The train limped along the Airport Line up to Wolli Creek, then connected to the East Hills line for the final leg home. I was dearly fortunate enough that the carriage was finally deemed unsafe when we arrived at my station; shortly after I got off everyone was told to, and wait for the next one! It was the biggest crowd I'd ever seen at our sleepy little Bardwell Park station!

The last time I was stuck in the Airport Line tunnel for an extended period of time was in November 2011. At least an hour to get home was less than the three hours I went through back then, I suppose!