Uh, guys... Proof-reading...

This is funny. (You will find it funny!)

A burst of random clicking amid my regular brain-clearning non-work mental regrouping saw me looking at the Moto Guzzi Australia website, and glancing at the new Breva 1200, which we saw at the Guzzi rally a few weekends ago when the dealer rode one down from Brisbane to show off and natter about (much thanks, by the way).

And it is a fine motorcycle indeed. Except...

Whoever approved putting the specifications pdf on the web really should have checked it first. Although I agree that a 1200cc engine would have a torque rating of "over 10Nm", that is neither particularly informative nor anything to brag about. I really hope they're missing a zero, there.

What's up with Google Maps?

Once upon a time, if you went to maps.google.com.au, the Australian site, and searched for "Ipswich" it would assume that you meant the one in Queensland, just to the south-west of Brisbane, on the way to Toowoomba.

But not any more. Suddenly it's defaulting to Ipswich in Suffolk, UK. Whyfor it go to UK when I'm on the Australian site?

Furthermore, searching for "One Mile, Ipswich" gets you 1 Mile Ln in Ipswich in Massachusetts, USA. searching for "One Mile, Ipswich, Qld" gets you 1 Ipswich City mall (near One Mile). To get the actual region of One Mile, in Ispwich, you need to search for "One Mile, Qld".

I think this merits an AAAAAARRRGGHHHHH!

GODDAMN YOU EBAY

Here I am, scratching to save 5-cent pieces for the next, oh, several months, recklessly throwing on a batch of experimental home-brew before guaranteeing the immediate availability of enough long-necks, and then think: Hmm... Should probably get a capper more sophisticated than the hit-with-hammer variety...

So I check eBay. Because of course you do. And there is a lever-action capper, Italian made (hey, why not?), for $10, in Ipswich so I can pick it up and not pay postage, with no bids....

I have a confession to make.

Yes. I finally gave into a combination of repressed no-new-gadget frustration, too much time analysing fripperies, and an unpleasantly opportunistic, almost sneakily coincidental offer from those conniving bastards at Vodafone (no, I'm still not prepared to forgive them their inanely cheerful voice-recognition telephone support line). As a result of which, I traded up from a competent but flawed feature phone to what was Nokia's codpiece of a flagship when it came out, and has been kept one of the best through software updates and having had so much put in when it was new, and don't have to pay anything up front. I'm just indentured to the bastards for two years worth of contract.

And I'm still making manic chortling noises over this.

It has now been more than a week since I picked it up, since which time I have had no time to comment on it, having been to a motorbike rally in Mingoola, a delayed mothers'-day visit in Buderim, a Jaguar Driver's Club meeting in Newstead, a couple of instalments of work, and lots of scrabbling-to-catch-up-with-things time.

A brief rundown: It has GPS, which drains the battery but is a really cool toy. It has WiFi, which means that I can sit at home, where I already have two perfectly good computers, and not pay data charges for Internet access. It has a good music player, it has surprisingly good stereo speakers, it has a radio which unfortunately needs the wired hands-free plugged in, because that's the aerial. It has a proper mini-computer operating system and the advantages of that are even bigger than I had been hoping for.

I am sincerely hoping that from this point onwards, everything I notice about my phone will be either intriguing or amusing, not baffling or enraging.

Of course, I may be kidding myself there...