The perfect salad

 
UNSW has a salad / pasta / juice bar in one of its food courts. You rock up and grab a takeaway box of lettuce, pick any 7 additions from the salad bar (you can add things like chicken or tuna for extra $) and a choice of about 10 dressings. They make it up right in front of you and you're away.

• Cos lettuce
• Chicken
• Sweetcorn
• Olives
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Roasted capsicum (bell pepper for readers in the northern hemisphere)
  
• Beetroot cubes
  
• Parmesan cheese (shaved)
  
• Red onion
• Dressing - I usually plug for Thai or Sun-dried Tomato & Basil.

Mmm tasty...
 

Waking up in a dust bowl

I've never seen anything like this. It was like waking up in a scorched desert scene from a movie like Dune or Terminator 2 - an eerie orange crimson dawn permeating through my bedroom window. I wondered briefly if when I looked out would I witness Armageddon with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse wreaking divine havoc on the world. OK that last sentence is actually a lie but it made good reading ;p

Last night Sydney was blanketed by a monster dust storm, blown in by westerly gales of up to 100kph. Those winds continue to buffet the city as I write this lunchtime, the silver lining being that they seem to be lifting the dust away.

Of course the story and its many pictures are all over the press - here are two of the better articles and galleries as well as some of my own photos.
 

Disney vs. Marvel

 
So Disney has flexed its financial muscle once again, this time buying Marvel for US$4bn. Not quite sure how I feel about it yet because I have enjoyed material from both brands in my lifetime So for now I'll leave the analysis to somebody else.

I will say that my initial reaction to the news was a mishmash of fear and hope that each brand's characters would stay clean and un-merged from the other. But after looking through this worth1000.com gallery I have to admit the possibilities are rather exciting!

Graphics and design are things I have never been good at so I am absolutely blown away by these talented digital artists. Some of my favourites are embedded below.




 

The Sixth Sense

 
No I'm not referring to the movie.

This of THE COOLEST piece of technology I have ever seen. Introduced at TED2009, The Sixth Sense is: "...a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine "Minority Report" and then some."

Truly astonishing.


 

Not there yet

 
A delightfully cynical view of Dublin's public transport system - but alas there is truth in every second of it :-( Anybody from or living in London or Sydney should be able to relate to some of it too!