Simon Butcher

It's been quite a while since my last little Benespection post, and considering it recently snowed for the first time this year — surprisingly just as winter officially ended — I thought I might share some snow pictures with you all.

Being Australian, I tend to have a slight fascination with snow, but on this particular occasion some of us were actually trapped by it…

Rollercoaster Season has once again rolled around as marked by the opening of the Walibi season for 2008 this weekend. As with last year, an early glimpse into what's changed within the park — or what's not working yet — is somewhat necessary.

This season opener didn't highlight anything spectacular to report, except that the Vertigo was once again being tested and wasn't taking passengers. There was once unique aspect of this visit though: It was snowing!

I've found myself needing access to the Internet from some remote areas, so it made sense to finally “bite the bullet” and give up; After many years of deliberation and procrastination, I recently bought myself a GPRS/EDGE data plan for my mobile phone.

So why would someone like myself — who carries around a Nokia E70 — not have bought into this earlier? Well, it's very simple: The cost of data through a mobile phone is ridiculously high compared with other more conventional broadband Internet connections.

It's not just Internet connectivity that's expensive, but SMS text-messages also seem disproportionately expensive compared with e-mail. A while ago, someone with too much time on their hands went a bit overboard detailing the cost of an SMS but neglected to understand the big picture.

I like movies.

I hate cinemas.

I'm a home theatre kind of guy.

While I may not actually have the fantastic home theatre setup now, my DVD collection has grown significantly over the last two years. People around me have taken notice, and it's become a common gift for me, especially since I'm a difficult person to buy presents for.

This collection has grown to the point where it's become somewhat of an addiction: I'm now faced with a queue of DVDs I've bought or been given as gifts that I still haven't watched!

Today the Vatican announced the first update to the list of deadly sins since the 6^th-century, expanding the list from seven sins to fourteen sins.

Each sin on the list is guaranteed to give you a nice warm spot writhing in agony amongst fire and brimstone and all that good stuff, so I thought I'd have a look at the list from my agnostic perspective.