Bracks tightens water curbs [The Age]:

Tougher water restrictions will be imposed on Melburnians from April 1, the Victorian Government has announced.

Premier Steve Bracks said the existing Stage 3 restrictions would be ramped up to a new category called Stage 3a, with extra requirements for industry and households with gardens.

From the Stage 3a FAQs at ourwater.vic.gov.au (my bolding):

The primary change to the rules in Stage 3a water restrictions is that gardens can be watered, as required, twice a week on specified watering days and then only in the mornings. There is no evening watering.

So if you want to water your garden from the tap you'll have to get up early.

For those that don't know, watering at night is best to avoid burning your plants and to reduce evaporation. It's not just to piss you off. I suspect morning has been chosen in Stage 3a instead of evening to avoid freezing as we move toward winter.

If we follow our existing unwritten always changing "list of priorities," a rainwater tank out the front is next in line. We've yet to decide exactly what this will be, but our current thoughts are around a cheapish 200+ litre wheelie-bin tank.

We recently decided against getting a new widescreen TV (Sanyo 76cm CRT, $396 at BigW) because there really isn't anything (much) wrong with our existing TV (51cm 4:3) and there are better things to spend money on (like a rainwater tank or a digital TV receiver box so we can get ABC2).

We still can't help but think LCD is only so popular (for retailers) because they cost so bloody much. More than $500 for a TV, no matter how massive or good quality*, is criminal.

* Yes, I understand the difference between progressive scan and interlace and all that jazz. I don't care. If I want good quality I'll get a projector, buy blackout curtains and paint my wall white (read: I don't want quality that good). I also understand that in theory, assuming don't burn out a pixel here and there, a cheap LCD will last much longer than a cheap CRT. That's why we're waiting. For LCD to get cheaper.

Interestingly, at the same time, I'm drooling over $600 22 inch (~55cms) widescreen LCD screens (Officeworks) for my computer. An LCD around 76cm (~30 inchs) would be at least $2000.

Why are computer LCDs in inches while TV LCDs are in centimetres?