via 9to5 Mac.

Since I no longer have cable, I decided to subscribe to MLB.tv on my Apple TV to watch my beloved Yankee’s games. Then, I saw this in the fine print…

All live games on MLB.TV and available through MLB.com At Bat are subject to local blackouts. Such live games will be blacked out in each applicable Club’s home television territory, regardless of whether that Club is playing at home or away.

What? I live within the Yankee’s blackout area, so that means I can’t watch any of their games on MLB.tv. I could understand if they were desperately trying to fill the seats at home games, but that can’t be the reason because every game at Yankee Stadium is a full house. Besides, it even applies when they’re playing on the other side of the country. That just doesn’t make sense.

MLB, you just lost a subscriber. I’m only interested in watching other teams when they’re playing the Yankees. Surely at least 90% of baseball fans feel the same way about their favorite team?

• You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.
• You’re liable to burst out laughing whenever you hear of Americans “rooting” for something.
• You pronounce Melbourne as ‘Mel-bin’. You believe the ‘L’ in the word ‘Australia’ is optional.
• You can translate: ‘Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.’
• You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.
• You call your best friend ‘a total bastard’ but someone you really, truly despise is just ‘a bit of a bastard’.
• You think ‘Woolloomooloo’ is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
• You’re secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
• You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that’s twice as big as its $2 coin.
• You understand that ‘Wagga Wagga’ can be abbreviated to ‘Wagga’ but ‘Woy Woy’ can’t be called ‘Woy’.
• You believe that cooked-down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread. You’ve also squeezed it through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.
• You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.
• Beetroot with your Hamburger… Of course.
• You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels’ song ‘Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again’ And “Living next door to Alice”.
• You believe that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
• You believe that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off to the Yanks for a pittance.
• You believe that the more you shorten someone’s name the more you like them.
• Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.
• You understand that ‘excuse me’ can sound rude, While ‘scuse me’ is always polite.
• You know what it’s like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.
• You know it’s not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron.
• Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.
• You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call ‘Anzac cookies’.
• You still think of Kylie as ‘that girl off Neighbours’.
• When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.
• You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o: arvo, combo, garbo, kero, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto, goodo etc.
• You know that there is a universal place called “woop woop” located in the middle of nowhere…no matter where you actually are.
• You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer, because it tastes like shit. But we let the world think we do. Because we can.
• You have some time in your life slept with Aeroguard on in the summer. Maybe even as perfume.
• You’ve only ever used the words – tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet – to mean good. And then you place ‘bloody’ in front of it when you REALLY mean it.
• You know that the barbecue is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss and usually a man. And the women make the Salad.
• You say ‘no worries’ quite often, whether you realise it or not.
• You understand what no wucking furries means.
• You’ve drank your tea/coffee/milo through a Tim Tam.
• You own a Bond’s chesty. In several different colours.
• You know that roo meat tastes pretty good, But not as good as barra. Or a meat pie.
• You know that some people pronounce Australia like “Straya” and that’s ok.
• And you will forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand

Hopefully I’ll find a way to try it soon myself.

My wife and I were running up and down lanes, dragging suitcases, looking for any distinguishing feature that would help.

If only we’d had Find My Car Smart. It’s a Kickstarter project and for only $30, how could you go wrong? I pledged immediately.

Thanks to xkcd.

I would like to personally thank RIM’s co-CEOs for their complete and total incompetence in 2011. Without your lack of attention to the market and the details that would make a great product, my year wouldn’t have been so successful.

With today’s release of iOS 5.1 beta 2, Apple has now taken steps to obscure that information, planting numerous fake references within configuration files typically examined for such evidence.

Clever.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Twelve South and their ideas. I even have a couple of their products on my Amazon wish list. If I don’t get them as Christmas gifts, I’m planning to buy them straight away.

That love aside, why pay for something that takes up space and only charges one USB device? My MacBook Air already has two perfectly acceptable USB ports on it that perform a wonderful job when put on charging duty.