Rants from Vas

It’s not secret I don’t like the way the web is succumbing to JavaScript bloat and sucking in scripts from third-party sites. But I now have another reason to hate it. A few sites are blocked from China, including most Google properties such as Google search, Google APIs and YouTube (and also Tagged, incidentally). If […]

The newspapers just love publishing stories about prostitution, because they know it sells. Amanda Goff aka Samantha X has been giving them plenty of fuel. Of course these stories all have comments left open, and it’s only a matter of time before a certain argument comes up in one form or another. Here’s an example […]

Melbourne on new year’s day is a weird place. All sorts of shops, restaurants and bars are were closed. The entire Royal Arcade was closed for some reason. It’s like Melbourne still wants to believe it’s a quiet country town. Despite the crappy weather, there was plenty of foot traffic in the CBD, so a […]

I’m having serious doubts about my ability to survive the rest of the month in Hong Kong. The infamous heat and humidity haven’t caused me problems – that doesn’t seem much worse than Sydney in summer. It doesn’t seem to rain too heavily for too long at a time, so that aspect isn’t really any […]

There’s this awesome laksa place on Hunter Street in the city, or at least everyone tells me it’s awesome, so I really want to try it. So I walked to Hunter Street last Sunday, keen to try get my Malaysian fix, but when I got there at half past one the place was closed and […]

I had an inadvertent busking experience. I was playing my recorders at the park while the kids enjoyed the playground. It seemed like good use of the time, as it meant fresh air for everyone, exercise for the children, and music practice for me. As we were leaving, some young ladies came up and gave […]

So I got this message today: Hi Vas, We work closely with company and placed man and woman with you recently. I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. – name I’m like So you run job ads? That don’t impress-a-me much — So you sold us grunts, But can you find us stars? […]

My wife has banned me from hiring or buying Ford or Holden cars. Since Hertz gets busy around Christmas, they were booked out of Mercedes, Lexus and even the more interesting Toyotas. From what was left, I decided to hire a Ford G6E (it’s the replacement for the Fairlane, kind of like a luxury Falcon […]

The threads on 4chan All looked so lame He typed the CAPTCHA To post his flame The newfags ate it Replies came in That OP’s ego Swelled with the win! He’s saying I’m on a roll With all the trolls I know The copy-pasta Flies to and fro He’s saying I’m on a roll With […]

The apparent incompetence of Victorian state governments never ceases to amaze me. The steady war on public transport is a great example. Ted & Co. have now decided that it’s a good idea to drop the Metcard, and also drop the rollout of single-use Myki tickets. Lolwut? You’re trying to tell me that the only way I […]