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Mike's Pith & Wind - Velcro
Two bits of evidence cropped up in the news recently confirming my suspicions that progress does not necessarily mean that things are getting better – quite to the contrary in many cases. In fact, where you detect the whiff of propaganda, simply replace the word ‘progress’ with ‘growth’ and you’ll be a lot closer to the truth.
But, as usual, I digress. I’ve been expressing my disappointment (whining incessantly) about one of today’s thoroughly ubiquitous inventions for some time now, and so it was with an audible, if stifled cry of triumph I read in The Age about the American Army’s official disenchantment with velcro, (which, like nylon has had the distinction of having its brand name genericised) A sergeant Kenny Hatten summed up the mood in the ranks when he posted on an army website: 'Get rid of the pocket-flap Velcro and give us back our buttons. Buttons are silent, easy to replace in the field, work just fine in the mud, do not clog up with dirt and do not fray and disintegrate with repeated laundering.'
Right on, sergeant. The velcro fastener on my mobile phone pouch has long-since lost its stickiness, (which is frustrating because the rest of the pouch still looks like new and I’m loathe to discard it), and a stud fastener would’ve been a far better choice. The same goes for the band’s PA speaker covers.
Velcro is a boon for teenagers who never learned to tie their shoe laces and for other disadvantaged persons who are no longer able to cope with.. read more

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Dick's Toolbox - Train time
It is slowly dawning on me that we don’t know very much about ourselves either as individuals, as a species or as a global or national society, and that we may be very intelligent or, at the least, vaguely knowledgeable about some things, but simultaneously incredibly stupid about others.
Therefore the parlous state of Melbourne’s metropolitan train service should be of little surprise. Yet almost everyday for the past two decades that I have been taking the train into Melbourne it has never failed to astound me. It may even have once or twice delighted me, but generally it has disappointed me.
Other cities can get it right – even ones in Australia, so why can’t the state of Victoria? Basically we can only assume public concern and economic logic have been.. read more