Things that please me

*  Firefox has been updated to 29.0.1, and I find the new look very attractive.  Not a huge change, I guess, but pleasing none the less.  There's something about new tab pages carrying ads, though, which I don't quite follow.  Guess I will have to wait and see.  Firefox has been my preferred browsers for more years than I can remember.  It's the vast library of add ons that make it great, I reckon.

* I just watched The World This Week, a summary of reports by the ABC on international issues (from their international correspondents) over the last week.  It's great, and makes the effort privately owned media puts into TV journalism on international issues look truly pathetic.  (Of course, I have often praised the ABC's Foreign Correspondent too.)  Can anyone explain why you seem to need a national broadcaster in order to do really good, informative reporting on international issues?

* I think Melbourne and Adelaide have long had small local smallgoods manufacturing that meant that good, fermented style smallgoods (like salamis, etc) in a wide range similar to what you may get in Europe were always available.  Local manufacturing of these in Brisbane has (it seems to me) finally taken off in the last 10 to 20 years, and we now can get a similar range of products, but you still tend to have to seek them out, often at the weekend farmer's markets.  (The somewhat slow moving redevelopment of the Brisbane showgrounds is supposed to include a permanent farmer's market - something that is sorely missed in this city.)   For the moment, Adam's Continental Smallgoods in Brisbane's west is pretty good, and sells an extensive range of meats too, but it is a bit far to go for people on the other side of the city. 

On Saturday we went to the Kelvin Grove Saturday farmers' market again.  We hadn't been for a while, but it is always good for cheap (and a big range of) fruit and veges, and some specialty meats and snacks.  It has one permanent smallgoods vendor, and we tried their chorizo and (what was called) a French style salami-ish sausage.  Both were very good.  The company's name is Backa Gourmet Foods.  They seem to be based in Beenleigh and just sell in Queensland local markets.  This is pleasing.