Sydney Ferris

Whisper on the street is that a temporary Ferris wheel may soon be erected near Sydney's Circular Quay. If the proposal gets the go-ahead from the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, the wheel could be (a)round from later this year to January next year. The (generic) Ferris wheel is named after American engineer George Washington Gale Ferris who "designed such a wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893." The SlovoEd dictionary for Palm goes on to say that a Ferris wheel is "an amusement device consisting of a large power-driven wheel made in two parallel sections having seats suspended between the sections; the seats maintaining a horizontal position while the wheel rotates in a vertical plane".
The Sydney version is planned to be 45 metres tall, and have 36 six-seat air-conditioned gondolas.

Placement

Checking the news online this morning, I clicked on one of the ten most popular stories links at smh.com.au and saw a story about Coke and the Australian Dental Association's concern about a full page ad the (among other things) drink company is using. The advertisement on the same "page" as the story was for Colgate (see screen grab); it will be interesting to see if the same juxtaposition happens in the hard-copy newspaper.

Whale of a time

I have spent some time this afternoon (after a post-lunch siesta) looking far out to sea looking for some sign of whales as they migrate north to their breeding grounds. Container ships ... check. Helicopters ... check. Small planes ... check. White caps aka white horses ... check. Whales ... nada. Until about 4pm when I noticed a largish splash a distance out. Then nothing. Half an hour later - another one. But by the time the binoculars were out and focused on roughly the right patch of ocean, no sign. S jokingly accused me of perpetrating some odd form of torture, as I called her each time to witness the whales. And then, there it was - two splashes at the same time that we both saw. I was lucky enough to see whales and fins ... And found myself wishing for stronger binoculars, better eyes, and perhaps an industrial-strength telescope - or even a boat. The whales were incredibly difficult to track across the ocean but from time to time I'd see the splash again - or a large puff of spray from a blowhole. Heaven. (At this point I will mention that the actual whale sighting came AFTER I had employed a trick from "Finding Nemo", one I had tried often but unsuccessfully as I sat on my balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean when I was in Cape Town last November. It is, of course, "speaking in whale". Thanks Dory. It works.)

Getting a grip

Why is an octopus called an octopus if it has ten-tacles? Yes, now I know that it has to do with "tentacles" - as derived from the Latin tentaculum which means to feel/probe. But what is the difference between a tentacle and an arm ... especially if octopuses, squid and cuttlefish all have 8 - but cuttlefish and squid have 2 extra but different "tentacles". According to Dr James Wood: tentacles are longer then arms and they usually only have suckers at their tips.

Lights in the sky

From our 16th floor holiday unit on the Gold Coast, we are able to watch the planes swing around to line up to land at the Coolangatta airport. Last night, as I lay in bed, watching yet another set of lights in the starry night, I realised that this one didn't seem to be moving. Sure enough, over the course of the next (more than) twenty minutes, it continued to "hover" there. I tried to have a look through binoculars but the best I could make out was three lights - red, green and white. I couldn't tell how far away, or what, it was but it may be that I will check the local paper to see if there were any reports of UFOs in the night sky. If not, then I'm going with that it was a helicopter - although I had heard that most helicopter pilots would avoid prolonged hovering because it is dangerous.

A question of ethics ...

or courting sympathy? Is it appropriate for children to be allowed in court? Reports of a NSW rugby player's appearance in court yesterday to try to regain access to the girlfriend he allegedly injured in a domestic violence incidence, was accompanied by a picture of the man (mid-20s) holding his (much) younger brother's hand. At first I thought it might have been a bid to show what a "good guy" he is, but reading of another source's reports that he was supported in court "by his mother, sister, uncle and two little brothers" suggests otherwise. But, and here is the question of ethics - or is it morals - is it appropriate to have young children in court? Would it be different if it were a violent crime or, say, possession of drugs? And, have there been any studies done on whether an accused supported by family including children, fares better in the justice system than those without (lawyers notwithstanding)?

On the street where you live ...

Teacher Julie McIlroy and electrician Allan Donnelly are planning to wed after they met on an internet dating site. Nothing too strange about that for the couple, who have both been based in the same street in Cardiff, Wales, for the last 17 years but had never met. Is this a case of them previously looking for love in all the wrong places? Or, when Julie began emailing Allan after seeing his photo on the net, did she do so because he seemed "familiar"? It is heartening though - to know that they do not have the "geographically-difficult" dimension that sometimes precludes internet daters from meeting although, as has been often showed, where there's a will, there's a way.

Get the message

Australian television station Channel 10 has been found guilty of using subliminal advertising during last year's ARIA awards. Despite the station's denials, the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that logos for KFC, Chuppa Chps, Bigpond and others were flashed on screen while the nominees for the awards were read out. Most people who "saw" the flashes would not have consciously registered or realised what they were seeing - such is the shortness of the "flash". So, is this a common practice amongst television stations here and abroad? Possibly not ... especially as the ad breaks just seem to be getting longer and filled with more ads. But it does make you wonder about the products that would be best advertising (or not) via subliminal advertising. Is it just the ARIA demographic or do major ticket items eg cars, international travel not translate effectively to subliminal advertising? Or did some companies, if indeed they were offered the opportunity, not agree to have their products so advertised? And what other uses could sublimal messaging serve? Wikipedia's entry on subliminal messages includes: In 1978, Wichita, Kansas TV station KAKE-TV received special permission from the police to place a subliminal message in a report on the BTK Killer (Bind, Torture, Kill) in an effort to get him to turn himself in. The subliminal message included the text "Now call the chief," as well as a pair of glasses. The glasses were thought to be of significance to the killer because when BTK murdered Nancy Fox, there was a pair of glasses lying upside down on her dresser. So, police felt that the glasses would stir up some remorse emotion and included them in the subliminal message. The attempt was unsuccessful, and police reported no increased volume of calls afterward.

Safety feature

As if the possibility of making a (possibly) life-changing phone call while under the influence of alcohol wasn't bad enough, with the increasing availability of email on people's phones, there's now the chance that a more enduring and no less embarrassing message may be released into the wild. But fear not, Google is on top of it. It's just released a new setting for its Gmail accounts (yes, they probably need to be set before drinking commences) where the user will need to correctly answer some simple mathematics questions before they can send email. Sounds reasonable. Now if only there was something like that for mobile phones!

Similarities

What do the Vatican and the US Army have in common? Both are making efforts to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels. Wired reports that the Army is planning to build what could be the world's most powerful solar power plant. Elsewhere, Gizmodo reports that the Vatican has just installed the first panels of its intended 2,400-strong solar panel roof project. If all goes to plan, this could see the Vatican as the first carbon-neutral body in the world - and striking a very real blow against what they have called "the sin" of poilution.

Right place

Luck, or was it fate, was on the side of a 6-year-old boy found drowning in a pool at a resort in northern NSW. Alerted by screams from his mother, other guests at the resort rushed to help including a paediatrician, an intensive care paramedic, a doctor and a paediatric nurse. The boy was being treated in hospital last night for water in his lungs.

Counting on this

On this day ... In 1571 "A Turkish fleet is destroyed by Christina forces commanded by Don John of Austria at the Battle of Lepanto. About 30,000 men die." So how long have people been counting for - and why did they start? According to Wikipedia, there is "archeological evidence suggesting that humans have been counting for at least 50,000 years ... and that it was used primarily to track economic data such as debts and capital". So, then, why did different types of counting groupings come about, take as an example Metric (10's) and Imperial (12's) - could this have been due to regional differences or the physical means used to track the counting of numbers eg fingers vs ... something else. And at what point were "bigger" numbers needed eg millions, billions, trillions ... and is there any time correlation between this and the need to break time into ever smaller increments - ie once upon a ... time, the smallest time measurement might have been a day - because there was no reliable way of measuring anythi ng smaller. Was there an economic imperative with the creation of time measurement as well - eg people needed to know how long a labour period was and how to measure it efectively? Strange then, too, that the traditional gift for long service with a company was (and still may be) a gold watch.

Experience the difference

When is a movie not a movie? When you're charged $3 extra for the ticket because it's "an experience" - or that's what I was told on Sunday afternoon when buying a ticket for "Journey To The Centre of The Earth 3D". I suspect the additonal $3 was to cover the extra costs associated with the 3D glasses. I've just checked an ad to see if the higher price was included - and it is covered thus: * SPECIAL EVENT CONDITIONS APPLY; and, in another ad: NO DISCOUNT TICKETS. 3D PRICES ONLY. That will teach me to check session times electronically rather than in the press - and to be ready for anything at the cinema. Especially the middle-aged gentlemen who lost his mobile phone and in an effort to find it, I rang his number so we could hear it ring - or at least light up if he had put it on silent. It worked ... and off he went muttering that his mother would have had "his g*ts for garters" if he'd lost it. Hmm - this could explain why, as we were leaving the complex, my phone rang and, as I was driving, S answered it. The person on the other end wanted to know why I had rung them. D'Oh.

Crocodile fears

Following the disappearance of a man beside a crocodile-infested river in Far North Queensland last week, local authorities have been trapping crocodiles in the area and will be testing them to check for human remains. So far three have been captured. At first I was concerned that the crocodiles were going to be killed so the tests could be conducted, but no, apparently they are to be x-rayed. The first crocodile to be tested has returned a negative result but will not be returned to the stretch of the river from which he was taken; instead, word is that Charlie will be put out to stud (at a crocodile farm). It is unclear what will happen if one of the crocs returns a positive result. Or how authorities will manage the co-existence of humans and crocodiles in the area in the future.

Birthplace oif an idea?

I have included a screenshot here of what I fancifully believe could have been the birthplace of the Palm PDA. It's from the final episode of Series 3 of The X Files dating back to 1995. Wouldn't it be amazing if this had been Jeff Hawkins's inspiration for a palm-sized personal computing device? There had long been non-electronic versions of palm-sized writing pads/cardholders available - especially the leather versions through quality stationers. But, to my mind anyway, the Palm was a huge leap forward. (It does make me wonder how ideas are born - and whether life us better for people who are more observant - or who have two right hands.)

Best case scenario

The origin of words and sayings can be interesting and thought-provoking. Take, as an example, "best case scenario". Did this have a meaning before the advent of "Deal or No Deal", the television program where a contestant has to choose a single case from many - each of which contains a $ amount from 50 cents to $200,000 (Australian version). They then have to open the other cases - and depending on which amounts are revealed, they are made an offer for their case. As an offer is made they have two options - "deal" or "no deal". The object of the game is to end up with a sizeable amount of money - either by making it to the end with your case being the one to contain big dollars, or to make the "deal" along the way - to sell your case, with whatever it has, for the offer. It was in yesterday's program that the presenter, outlining the possible options to the contestant with $2,000, $5,000 and $50,000 still in play, used the phrase "the best case scenario". So where does "best case scenario" come from? Did it ever refer to physical cases (aka ports, bags, suitcases) or does it relate to case as in "proceeding in a court of law" or "a problem requiring investigation" ... or something else entirely? According to the SlovoEd (Palm version) dictionary it's: being, relating to, or based on a projection of future events that assumes only the best possible circumstances [a best-case scenario]. Somewhat surprising, in a quick search on Google for "best case scenario" three of the first 10 results show (in bold print) "worst-case scenario".

How to lose an hour ...

... before Daylight Savings starts. It began with the observation that "Encyclopaedia" was the answer to one of the clues in today's Quick Crossword in The Sydney Morning Herald. I had remembered the "a" in the middle because of "The Mickey Mouse Club". S advised me that I was remembering it incorrectly - and we both sang our versions of the Jiminy Cricket song to compare them. Both scanned - so we decided to settle it over the internet. Out came the iPod Touch for a quick search for Jiminy Cricket on YouTube (hmmm - it was actually easier to spell "encyclopaedia" than "Jiminy" but that's another story). Well, of course S was right - even though I still insist that the version we saw in Toowoomba Qld DID have the "a" - and from there, after a couple of replays of the song, I went in search of my 1967 favourite "Adventure Island" (opening and closing sequences) .. which then led to "Gilligan's Island" because I thought the Island theme songs had similar feels ... and then onto another favourite yesteryear program "The Littlest Hobo" ... by this time S was begging me to leave so more reading of Einstein's biography could take place ... and a quick search on Einstein found some footage of the great man himself and ... Einstein the Parrot, who was very, very good and, as S said, made it "all worth it". Then, to round it off, I looked for footage of the Kangaroo that used to signal the overnight close of transmission for Channel 7 Sydney (I saw the last time the temporary close happened) in the days when stations did not broadcast 24 hours a day. As well as the Kangaroo, there was, and I had forgotten this, the song "My City of Sydney". Ahhh, those were the days ... and that's how to lose (at least) an hour on a Thursday evening. But it truly is amazing what is available on YouTube - and how easy it is to look it up if you're using a portable wireless device which turns on rather than "boots up".

On Writing

I am in the middle of reading Stephen King's* "On Writing" - a "how to" manual which is proving to be quite different from what I had expected. (Take writing advice from Stephen King? You bet. You'd be doing well to be half as successful as he, and if your penchant is to write "literature" rather than "popular fiction" the same tools/rules apply.) Key learning thus far: if you are writing about the possessive, always use an 's even if the word ends in an s. Oh, and his other advice: if you want to be a writer, you have to also be a reader. I would also posit that you would do well to have a good editor. Also, if you want to be a writer: write ... regularly each day .. set yourself a limit and just do it.
Which reminds me - it's going to be November in a minute - and time again for NaNoWriMo otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Some 100,000 people took part in the event last year where you simply undertake to write something each day in November - and have a 50,000 word novel completed at the end of the month. The NaNoWriMo.org site is currently having difficulties but you can check there in a few days to find out the details, or get more of a flavour for the "event" from the NaNoWriMo entry in Wikipedia (sorry, remote posting this means I can't insert a URL link).

Positioning statement

Way back when – not sure of the exact date, I commented on this blog about the way newspapers report on who you are. In today’s paper there is a reference to a woman being a “redundant marketing consultant”. This will be helpful in the period between now and when I start in my next position – until then, if asked, I am a redundant business analyst. Although, come to think about it, that could be just a little confusing – but possibly helpful - in these difficult economic times.

Target audience

Australian broadcaster ABC launched the local version of the car show Top Gear earlier this week. According to The Daily Telegraph “More than 1.3 million people tuned into the debut episode ...” This is the second time I’ve heard that kind of number mentioned in the last day. I can’t remember the exact number cited the other time, except that it was over a million: i.e. the number of users signed up to use the on-line dating service that was advertised on television just after midnight last night. Now, I’m not sure what the exact population of Australia is (quick Google search suggests over 20 million in 2006) but that does seem like an awful lot of people to be looking for love on-line. I wonder if there have been any statistics produced about success rates? Or, and this is probably recent viewing of an “X Files episode where the suspect was using on-line dating sites to target women so he could feast on their lipids rather than their lips” talking, has anyone produced reliable statistics about why it may not be such a good idea to use the internet for initiating on-line relationships – or a “how to” guide so people can do so safely? (Yes, I know ... time to turn off the television.) Is this something that could be included in the next Census – or the subject of someone’s doctoral thesis – although collecting data might be tough because of the sheer size of the population (random sampling might help) and because if someone had had a not-so-wonderful experience with on-line dating, they may not want to talk about it. Lots of food for thought there ... including whether there is a specific personality profile that would prefer on-line dating, and whether modern lifestyles means there is a preference for on-line dating over other ways of meeting people. (This ramble is probably another reason to turn off the television – especially when midnight rolls around. Seems to be a different target market in the wee smalls of the morning.)