2026-07-20 07:22:33
Today’s Music Monday is an etymological road trip from Paul Simon’s 1983 album Hearts and Bones.
The album was a commercial failure relative to his other works, but it happens to be one of my favourites. This cheeky song is mixed in with some of his most beautiful tunes. Clara and I were lucky to find an original LP pressing at a charity shop this year.
Graceland is one of my favourite albums of all time, but I find myself playing Hearts and Bones and his earlier One Trick Pony album far more often. It’s funny how that works.
The Paul Simon website has more details. Beep beep.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-07-20.
2026-07-18 08:15:18
It might shock you to know that I put in an order for a retrocomputer earlier this month. Alas, it’s not going as well as one may hope.
After saving and searching for this specific machine for months, I eventually tracked one down in serviceable condition on a US store that ran on Shopify. I prefer buying from outside the US thesedays if I can, because their shipping prices are wild. It typically costs half as much to get something from the UK, despite it being further away. But something something specific people can’t be choosers.
The store’s description stated they “shipped worldwide”, which was encouraging. So on the 4th of July AEST, I bought it! I paid on the spot for the machine and shipping with tracking. I the received an automated order confirmation from Shopify, and waited.
You can probably guess what happens next. Nothing. No email, no invoices, no shipping notices, no tracking numbers. Besides an estimated arrival date of today, I had no further details from the vendor besides what Shopify automatically sent.
This isn’t an uncommon experience for me with stores that run on that platform. Even the Shop app on the phone will only show an item as “waiting for details”, even well after it’s been delivered. I’ve had to clear a list of items as having been “received” even when the Shop app still thinks its with the seller. I don’t know why this happens.
☕︎ ☕︎ ☕︎
The self doubt began to creep in by day ten. Had I been scammed? Were there obvious signs on the site that they were dodgy that I’d overlooked? The machine was certainly priced lower than I’d seen them go for on eBay when they were available. Were the pictures showing the unit working faked? How long should I wait? What was my recourse?
This radio silence persisted for a fortnight, until yesterday when I received a second automated email from the Shopify platform:
You have received a refund
The refund covered the shipping cost, but not the item itself. That’s an issue, because for me to receive the item I paid for, I need to have it shipped.
Again, there was no communication from the seller directly whatsoever. The automated Shopify email had a link to their sales address, so I did all the usual steps of checking spam and white listing their domain. Nothing. I emailed this address directly during their business hours, but a day later and still nothing.
Unfortunately, this is also fairly common. Australia is a small continent or a large island floating off in the middle of nowhere, so we’re used to people cancelling shipping because they didn’t charge enough. I’ve had US sellers claim they meant “Canada” when they said they “ship overseas”; I suppose they’re “World” Series fans. Some chalk it up to clerical error or a mistake, and reinstate the shipping after a poke. Others don’t like the look of the address of our unit, and cancel rather than asking for a different delivery point, with the ensuing faff taking even longer and with more expense.
Radio silence though, this is a new experience. If I don’t hear back from them by mid-next week at the latest, I’ll be issuing only the second chargeback I’ve ever done on a credit card. Which sucks, because I was looking forward to that machine.
☕︎ ☕︎ ☕︎
It might sound weird given the circumstances, but I’ll still take these less than stellar odds over what we may have had prior to the web’s existence. Over the course of just this year I’ve had retro computer parts delivered from New Zealand, Latvia, Ukraine, mainland China, the UK, Canada, Chile, Taiwan, Portugal, and even the US. Australia is a big country but a small market; there’s no way I would have access to all this amazing stuff if I could only buy locally, especially all the handmade and hand soldered vintage projects people have designed and built to keep these machines alive.
It sucks that this latest retrocomputer is in the logistical equivalent of purgatory, but on balance I’ve been pretty lucky, and I certainly have other projects to work on in the interim. Heck, I even have a 65C816 in my silly little CPU collection (cough)!
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-07-18.
2026-07-18 08:05:27
A client recommended the Three Capes Track in Tasmania recently, and it looks stunning.
From the Tasmania Parks and Wilderness Service:
The 48-kilometre track has been designed as an achievable experience for a wide range of ages and abilities. It has been built to a dry-boot standard from a range of materials, including timbers, stone and gravel and is wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side.
The journey begins with walkers checking in at the Port Arthur Historic Site. You will then board a Pennicott Wilderness Journeys purpose built vessel for a cruise of up to 75 minutes exploring coves and the tallest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere before delivering walkers to the start of the track at Denmans Cove. Over four days and three nights, walkers will cover the 48 kilometres amongst tall eucalypt forests, coastal heath and Australia’s highest sea cliffs.
Evenings are spent in warm and comfortable environmentally-sensitive cabins; Surveyors, Munro and Retakunna.
I’ve been back in Australia for more than a decade now, and love that I have bush walking trails near our new home. But this would be next level. I also haven’t been to Tasmania since 2006.
That reminds me, how’s the new ferry from Melbourne going?
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-07-18.
2026-07-17 07:31:33
I saw this on AliExpress, and I may be more than a little obsessed:
The entire case is made from 1.2 mm-thick steel, with support for the following features:
The position of the power supply over the motherboard would limit you to slim CPU coolers, unless you installed an SFX power supply with an adaptor, maybe?
Honestly though, I’m half tempted! This is clearly designed for industrial applications, but this would be an awesome little box for installing projects into, or setting up a remote ZFS target with a couple of large drives in a mirrored vdev for backups.
Did I mention it’s beige?
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-07-17.
2026-07-16 07:52:50
Update: I changed my mind, I don’t want this stuff on my site. I mentioned I’d rather talk about cool and wonderful things, which I now intend to. ♡
I recommend David Gerard’s Pivot to AI if you’re still interested in the topic. He still sometimes gets contributes from Amy Castor as well. It’s also available as a podcast, and YouTube channel.
Cheers.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-07-16.
2026-07-15 12:08:25
Hot on the heels of seeing the 3801 steam by in all its restored glory, I was looking out the window and saw the R-766 steam by as well.
Wait, WHAT!?
I didn’t have my camera set up in time, so instead have this press image from the Picnic Train website, the organisation that currently operates the locomotive:
I scarcely believed my eyes when I saw it. That’s not a metaphor or turn of phrase; I mean I literally didn’t believe what I was seeing. For context:
The R-766 is from the Australian state of Victoria, and the last time I checked Sydney is in New South Wales.
The R class, like other Victorian steam locomotives, were built for Victorian broad gauge. New South Wales uses standard gauge. The train literally would not have fit on our tracks (technically they were build to facilitate easy conversion, but they still would have needed that work done to operate).
I was so tongue-tied and confused when it steamed by that I couldn’t even beckon Clara to see what was happening. I haven’t been at that loss for words in almost ever.
As I mentioned on that 3801 post, the R-761 is my favourite locomotive of all time. And the R-766 is the spitting image of her. And now apparently we could book passage, locally!? That’s wild!
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-07-15.
