Category Archives: General

Things what don’t fit elsewhere.

General

I used Australia Post’s ShopMate and it didn’t suck.

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If you’re an Aussie and you’ve ever tried ordering things over the internet you’ve probably discovered the prices are lower on any number of things in America, but American stores typically won’t ship to Australia. Why? Nobody knows!

Previously you could use services like Shipito to circumvent some of these restrictions. You get a US based address with them and have your goods delivered there, then they ship them to you for a small fee plus postage.

I guess AusPost wanted a slice of that pie because they recently launched ShopMate, where you get a US based address to ship your goods to then pay AusPost the cost of bringing them to you.

So, cool. Does it work?

Yes!

What made me try it was a Star Wars themed “mystery box” that ThinkGeek wouldn’t ship outside the US. Why not? I have the box now and I still don’t know. Maybe it’s illegal to export Death Stars, even when they’re only tea infusers?

Anyway, I chucked that and some themed polo shirts in my cart and placed an order on the 12th of November. ThinkGeek shipped it the 13th and it arrived at ShopMate on… the 20th. A whole week for delivery within the US. Okay.

It then took another week to go from their warehouse to my door, halfway round the world. Arriving on the 27th means it took 15 days, which isn’t particularly fast but not painfully slow.

As for the cost? If ThinkGeek had been willing to ship directly to me it would have cost around $US55. As it was technically being shipped to a US address and they had free shipping at the time I only had to pay the ShopMate fee.

Which came to $AU59.70. It ain’t cheap, but after the currency conversion it worked out cheaper than the direct option, oddly enough.

The only really disappointing part of the whole experience was the lack of tracking available between ShopMate’s US location and the parcel arriving in Australia. You don’t get any kind of update until it’s in the country and ready for delivery. It’s a bit of a nitpick, it doesn’t really matter so long as your stuff arrives, but it would be nice. Maybe you can track it and I just can’t find the right bit?

One test run isn’t conclusive but so far it’s reasonably priced, reasonably quick and super easy to use. I’ll certainly be using it again. Possibly to get some Lego…

General

Why it’s not okay to say “gay”.

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I’m not a fan of “gay” being used in a derogatory fashion. Both when it’s used to demean other people and when it’s used to express dissatisfaction with some thing or concept or… whatever. This is not a secret, I’ve railed against it any number of times.

But why? Why isn’t it okay to say a Team Fortress 2 map is gay? Or the pen that keeps running out is gay? Or paying extra for pineapple on your pizza is gay?

Because every time you use it that way you’re reinforcing the notion that “gay” is synonymous with “bad”. And therefore being gay is bad.

You may not mean it in the sense of homosexuals being bad. It likely doesn’t cross most people’s minds at the time they utter it. It’s become so ingrained in some people that they’ll actually defend their usage of the word. They think it’s been “reclaimed” or somehow repurposed to not refer to homosexuality anymore, despite the prominent usage in various advocacy groups and celebrations like the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Continue reading Why it’s not okay to say “gay”. →

General

On The Writing Of Things…

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I am not a writer.

I say that a lot, especially of late, but I don’t think people really understand why. It’s not false modesty, or fishing for people to tell me I am one, or that I am good at it. It’s that I think the standard of writing required to be labelled a writer is markedly higher than my own skills in the field.
Compiling recaps of The Biggest Loser isn’t much more than transcription with a few swears and observations thrown in. It’s more about having the ability to type a decent amount of words per minute than it is any particular ability with shaping those words into something worth reading.
Continue reading On The Writing Of Things… →

General

Queensland experiencing severe flooding, donations requested.

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To donate to the Premier’s Disaster relief appeal – http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

How bad is the flooding? Here’s just one video.

There’s dozens more videos and pictures all over the internet and things are still expected to get worse. They’re currently predicting the floodwaters will peak on Thursday but obviously that depends whether more rain falls.

Many people are still missing though it’s hoped everyone else will have enough warning to get to safety as the flooding continues.

Seriously scary stuff. Stay safe, Queenslanders! :(

General

Hello? Is this thing on?

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Well, seems I have a blog again. They’re still called blogs, aren’t they? I certainly hope so, else I’m already off to a bad start.

Why is my blog called Rambilicious? Your guess is as good as mine. You’ve got to call your blog something and as I do enjoy a good spot of rambling it seemed like a reasonably descriptive yet somewhat made up word.

This is where I would tell you what this blog is going to be about. But I have no set agenda to fulfill. I’ll float between gaming and television, science and hilarity, website tips and a smattering of politics.

Why now? New year, new start.

My one clear plan for my blog is to keep a record of the various games I complete. I always mean to keep track and never do. I always mean to let people know what I thought of the games I finish, but I never seem to get around to it. With a blog I can do those things and bitch more extensively about the games that need it, to boot.

Those “SEO Experts” deserve a kick in the pants and I may just give it to them.

I’ll still be on Twitter and I’ll still be recapping the new Australian season of The Biggest Loser, so if you’ve followed me from either of those places, never fear.

For better or worse I need more than 140 characters to express some of my opinions. Whether that is a good thing remains to be seen.

Stay tuned?