Don't know if it's true, but according to this blog eedle-doddle means:

"Scottish slang: Someone described as an eedle-doddle is a rather carefree and nonchalant person, or a day-dreamer."

Just got home from the St Kilda v Hawthorn game.

Connex Melbourne's web site says:

*Please note the network improvements for Saturday 20 September
will be altered to enable two footy specials to operate through to Sandringham
(commencing at 9.36pm).  All normal services will terminate at Elsternick as
advised.

It's hard to conceive of a more idiotic notion than scheduling bus replacements for the Sandringham trains on the night of a preliminary footy final. Along with hundreds of other people we've just been forced off the train at Elsternick and we're now trundling home on a bus. If Connex Melbourne management was wondering why passengers think they are complete prats – this is why.

Just saw a TV ad for Sorbent toilet tissue, where the key pitch – I swear this is true – is that because the roll is longer you’ll spend less time changing toilet rolls and more quality time with your family. And delivered with a straight face. It’s so easy to despair when this is as good as professional marketing can manage.

I’m starting to think Virgin Blue has now morphed into what it used to hate – Qantas. Flew into Sydney this morning, and we all had to wait around on the plane because noone noticed us arriving, and there were no ground staff waiting at the airbridge.

Now I’m sitting at Sydney airport delayed 35mins so far because of late arrival of the inbound plane.

We used to make a point of not flying Qantas because there always seemed to be something amiss, broken or late. Now it seems that choice is harder to justify.

Here’s a blog you should  be reading instead of mine. MyCEOLife is Simon Baker writing, the recently-made-former-MD of realestate.com.au. Simon is probably one of the most insightful, strategic and innovative internet business leaders I’ve met. He took REA from nothing (in fact less than nothing, it was losing money), to a profitable, ASX listed business with operations around the world. Outstanding stuff. And now he’s got a little more time on his hands he’s cranking up the blogging output.

Simon was the victim of one of the most dis-respectful sackings you could imagine. He’s also the guy who bought our ArtsHub business – and there’s no better hands in which we could imagine placing our baby.

My big brother Paul’s new documentary on the terrrible plight of Iraqi refugees has been released. Paul says’s he is “arguing that helping the refugees is not just a humanitarian cause,
it’s critical to national security. These 2 million refugees are the
bulk of the educated middle class of Iraq. If they collapse into
poverty and continue to fail to send their children to school, Iraq
will remain wrecked for a generation, and there will be a new vast pool
of semi-educated, angry and hopeless refugees in the Middle East
alongside the Palestinians.”

The documentary, and issue, is being picked up in a number of places including:

A dangerous crisis of invisible refugees: Bernd Debusmann
Informed Comment

You can watch part 1 of “The Hard Way” on YouTube. There is a higher res one here.

Fiona and I went out to Calder Park race track this morning, and drove V8 race cars. Just for something different! If you’ve never had the experience before, it’s completely unbelievable. It’s so out of your comfort box. Strapped in tight, heavy helmet, instructor’s voice in your ears, and the sound of a race tuned V8 Holden. None of which you notice after the first 10 seconds, because all you can hear is the instructor yelling ‘floor it’, as you do 170km+ down the straight, then ‘brake brake’ as you approach the corners. Lot’s of people seemed to manage to wind the car up faster, I think I might have nudged 180km, which was of no interest – I was concentrating too hard.

Don’t think for a moment this is an exclusively boy’s club thing. Fiona drove, and had a ball, and there were several other women as well, albeit somewhat outnumbered by the blokes.

Here is the video, souvenir photos at the bottom. Give it a try – book through www.v8race.com.