Story Bridge Climb

Yesterday I climbed the Story Bridge. The climb was a present from Tobias and Christoffer on Fathers Day.

The Story Bridge crosses the Brisbane River and connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point and is one of Brisbane's most recognisable icons.

The morning was a bit hectic as I had to dash out to the West End market and by rye bread and fruit before heading off to the bridge. And to make things a little more exiting I also had to pop by work to print my climb confirmation slip. With some help from my bike and a little running along on the way I made it to the bridge climb headquarters on time @ 9:45.

Our instructor (Jeremy) took us through all the formalities including an alcohol breath test. Climbing on the bridge is prohibited with a blood alcohol concentration higher than 0.05 per cent (the legal limit for drivers).

Equipped with a climbing harness, jump suit, radio equipment and other miscellaneous accessories and a brief instruction we started the climb.

Suffice it to say I felt pretty ridiculous dressed up in the outfit provided. The jump suit in particular was …. well don’t ask. But what we were lacking on the fashion front was made up for on the tech side. I was very pleased to try out a pair of temple transducers from Motorola. I have seen these many times in the past but had never tried them before. The temple transducer uses bone conduction technology, so you can receive audio without covering the ear. The receiver portion rests on the temples. The sound vibration is transmitted through the surrounding human tissue and bone directly into the inner ear. With them Jeremy was in crystal clear commando style contact with us throughout the climb.

The bridge climb starts on a spiral staircase that takes you up to the underside of the bridge, where a walkway has been built. Stairs take you up and above the pedestrian walkway and cars driving below, to the viewing platform on the main South pier (approximately 80 meters above sea level). This is the main look-out point.

We stayed up there for 15 minutes and enjoyed the panorama view. Then we descended to the middle of the bridge. This was the halfway point of the climb. After a short stop we ascended again to the top of the main pier and from there descended back down to climb headquarters.

The climb is enjoyable. It isn’t strenuous at all for anyone with a reasonable fitness. If you have acrophobia (a fear of heights) it is probably not the right activity to undertake, but for everyone else it shouldn’t be a problem. Obviously, the main attraction of the climb is the view and it doesn’t disappoint. Our guide Jeremy also did an excellent job of providing facts and figures and historic commentary on the immediate surroundings.

The bridge was constructed as a public works program during the Great Depression. As such it was a means of boosting morale and creating employment. Construction began on the bridge in 1935 and was opened five years later in 1940. More than 300 men were employed for its design and construction and the structure contains nearly 12,000 tonnes of steel. It is named after John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public servant.

Oh yeah….and I received this certificate as proof of my climb ;-).

Sheep Market

Here is a strange website: The Sheep Market

The owners of The Sheep Market have paid people online to draw a sheep facing left. No other guidlines where provided. The ‘brushstrokes’ of the artist are captured and are replayed when you select a sheep. You can buy a block (4x5) of sheep as lickable adhesive stamps complete with a certificate of authenticity in a collectable package for US$20 each.

Each drawer was paid 2 cents each for their efforts. That is $0.40 for a set of 20 sheep (or $200 for 10,000 sheep - the number of sheep on the website). Even with additional expenditure for the website, design, materials etc. these guys probably have a healthy profit margin.

Snake aquarium

Tobias latest creation is a snake aquarium combo. The aquarium is occupied by a family of octopus. It has wheels so it can drive to the fish shop. On the back of the aquarium he has painted yellow spots. Why? You guessed it, because the octopuses enjoy them.

Den seneste "kreation" fra Tobias er et slange-akvarium, hvori der bor en blæksprutte famile. Akvariet har hjul så det kan køre til fiskeforretningen. På bagsiden af akvariet har han malet gule prikker. Hvorfor? Du gættede det, fordi blæksprutterne kan li' dem.

Australian Financial Review

I was quoted yesterday in the Australian Financial Review. Read the article below.

Model warfare as Regulator tackles Telstra
By Tony Boyd

The competition regulator is planning to spend up to $1 million to build a computer model of Australia's phone and internet network to help it score points in its wrangling with Telstra over whether the phone monopoly is overestimating its costs.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's move has been welcomed by Telstra's rivals, but an economist who has worked for Telstra, which has its own computer model, said the ACCC is simply creating more hassle and cost for the company.

Henry Ergas said building a network-cost model was fraught with risk. "I think a note of caution one would inject into any effort by the ACCC to go off down this particular path is that building a model is complex, time consuming and costly," said Dr Ergas, head of the Asia Pacific operations of economic consultancy CRA International. "I think they would be extremely lucky if they can build a really robust model for $1 million."

Dr Ergas, who has worked for Telstra on many access pricing issues, said if the ACCC goes ahead with its own model Telstra would inevitably have to supply much of the source information.

The regulator has long been frustrated by Telstra's modelling, which the ACCC believes overstates the company's costs and produces access prices for competitors that are unreasonable. The ACCC also claims Telstra's model is not forward looking and overstates costs because it fails to take into account developments such as broadband internet.

"Telstra’s model is inappropriate, irrelevant and backward”

The new model will be used by the regulator to assist in its enforcement of the Trade Practices Act which involves, among other things, determining if the access prices are reasonable.

Telstra's fixed network cost model, known as PSTN ingres degress version 2 (PIE II), has been endorsed by the world's leading expert on hypothetical network models, Bridger Mitchell, the principal of CRA International.

Dr Mitchell, who built one of the first hypothetical network models in the 1980s in California, said in a report to the ACCC that the PIE I1 model was forward looking and included subscriber and traffic forecasts for 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Dr Mitchell said the model appropriately incorporated the principles for total element long run incremental cost modelling that have been developed and applied in international practice.
But the ACCC says PIE I1 is inappropriate, irrelevant and backward. Telstra's rivals and industry consultants have made similar criticisms.

Jasper Mikkelsen, senior economist at Marsden Jacob Associates, said PIE II failed to take account of non-voice traffic such as broadband resulting in inflated costs. "It is one of the models I have found most difficult to understand," he said.

The ACCC last month invited industry comment on what should be included in its new model when it goes ahead with a tender, which is likely to be published next month.

En milepæl

I dag sagde Christoffer ”far”. Det var sgu på tide - nu har han også kun sagt ”morgenmad” til mig de sidste 4 måneder som det første når han vågner.

Camouflage balloons

[From Boing Boing] Here is a gift for Tobias: Camouflage Water Bombs. Tobias has always been very fond of balloons and water bombs are no exception. I am sure these camouflaged versions are right up his ally.

The store selling them is called Larrys and not only do they sell water bombs they also sell water grenades and launchers. Yikes! And they will ship them all over the world.

On second thoughts, maybe water bombs are not such a good idea now that we live in an apartment. But he sure would love them.

More music - Monkeys and sheep

[Nedenfor er en beskrivelse af to engelske boernesange som Tobias regelmaessigt synger. Den ene handler om aber der hopper i sengen den anden om et faar og uld.]

There are two songs that Tobias currently is keen to sing: Five Little Monkeys and Baa Baa Black Sheep. He sings each of them in his own very special way. While he usually sings the sheep song with his innocent boyish voice, he tends to growl the monkey song in double tempo.

The monkey song goes like this:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed."

Four ...

Three ...

Two...

One little monkey jumping on the bed.
He fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"Put those monkey's straight to bed."

Okay so you get the picture, as soon as the monkeys say good-night to Mama, they start to jump on their bed. Trouble lies ahead as, one by one, they fall off and hurt themselves. The doctor issues stern orders each time and finally says "Put those monkey's straight to bed".

I am not sure how Tobias interprets the song. He doesn't seem to have any trouble with the monkeys bumping their head and he himself has never backed away from jumping in our bed. For him it is seems to be all fun and games. Maybe jumping on the bed is his way of celebrating his inner monkey. It’s naughty. It’s fun. A phrase I got from a website appropriate for the occasion: http://www.bedjump.com/.

The nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep is a completely different story. It goes like this:

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

He sings it to a variant of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and will often only sing from "one for the master". When searching for the lyrics on the internet I came up with several versions. It turns out that the original lyrics (as shown above) have been criticized for being racially negative. According to Wikipedia, in 1999, guidelines from Birmingham City Council in England suggested that the rhyme should not be taught in schools because it was seen as racially negative and could cause offense. However, these guidelines were dropped by the council early in 2000 when black parents described the advice as ridiculous. Yes, indeed, bizarre! Nevertheless, in many different cities across the UK, the nursery rhyme is no longer permitted to be sung in its original manner. Variations include 'Fluffy sheep', Wooly sheep', 'Rainbow sheep'.

Pat Boone

Tobias er helt vild med Pat Boone's Speedy Gonzalez. Du kan høre 30 sekunder af sangen på "last fm". Klik her. Teksten er nedenfor. Han er især vilde den kvindelige stemme der synger la-la-laaa...

[Tobias is crazy about Pat Boone's Speedy Gonzalez. Get a 30 second preview here. The lyrics are below. He is particularly fond of the female voice singing la-la-laaa...]

Spoken:
It was a moonlit night in old Mexico. I walked alone between some old adobe haciendas. Suddenly, I heard the plaintive cry of a young Mexican girl.

(Female voice singing a series of 'La-la-la's')

You better come home, Speedy Gonzales
Away from Tannery Row
Stop alla your a-drinkin'
With that floozie named Flo
Come on home to your adobe
And slap some mud on the wall
The roof is leakin' like a strainer
There's loadsa roaches in the hall
Speedy Gonzales, why don'tcha come home?
Speedy Gonzales, how come ya leave me all alone?

Spoken in a male Mexican accent
Hey, Rosita
I hafta go shopping downtown for my mudder
She needs some tortillas and chili peppers

Your doggy's gonna have a puppy
And we're runnin' outta coke
No enchiladas in the icebox
And the television's broke
I saw some lipstick on your sweatshirt
I smelled some perfume in your ear
Well if you're gonna keep on messin'
Don't bring your business back a-here
Mmm, Speedy Gonzales, why don'tcha come home?
Speedy Gonzales, how come ya leave me all alone?

Spoken in a male Mexican accent
Hey, Rosita
Come queek
Down at the cantina they giving green stamps with tequila!!

(Female voice singing a series of 'La-la-la's')
(Female voice singing a series of 'Ya-ya-ya's)

Stoffer foran kameraet

En mini ferie - video

Nedenfor er et par videoklip fra vores hvalsafari.

Delfiner svømmer op til båden i fart og leger.


En hval vinker farvel.

Wet'n'Wild

Last weekend we were at the Gold Coast (approx. 100 km south of Brisbane). We stayed with Mark (from the Melbourne office) and Eva from Sunday to Monday. They were there for a week of holidaying with their kids, Stefan (6.5) and Ramon (3.5). It was an excellent opportunity to get up to speed and for the children to play.

We decided to visit Wet'n'Wild Water World which is a combo of water slides, leisure pools and subtropical gardens. Unfortunately (for Tobias) nearly all rides required a minimum height of 1.10 m. With his 1.04 m, Tobias and Ramon (similar height) were restricted to two rides. Luckily there were other options like buccaneer bay with a multi-level attraction based on a pirate theme. The focal point of the attraction was a giant tipping bucket mounted at the top of the play structure (of water pipes) that every 5 minutes or so spilled several 100 litres of water onto those standing below. Here we set-up camp and allowed the kids to run around and play.

With the smaller kids occupied Mark, Stefan and I went on a tour of the different slides. The most extreme slides are found in what is called the Extreme H20 Zone – a new slide area that is built specially for those seeking a more radical aquatic experience. It didn’t disappoint, although unfortunately their newest attraction, the Tornado, was closed.

We will have to go back when Tobias has reached the 1.10 m mark.

Below is some footage of Mark, Eva, Stefan, Majken and Tobias on the Mammoth Falls.

Internet use

My use of the internet has changed substantially this year.

I have changed the way I view web content by moving to an RSS feed reader (in my case RSS Reader). RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". The feed reader pulls together all of the content I am interested in one place and strips away ads and other junk. In the process I have ditched most of the e-mail alerts I previously received and which clogged up my inbox.

If you are not already using a reader I can highly recommend that you get started.

In addition, I have started two blogs and in the process discovered a wealth of information sources (other blogs). From a family perspective blogging is an ideal media for informing family and friends about news and developments. It also provides an opportunity to share thoughts and experiences. Down the track it may also provide our children some insight into their parent’s mindset and the time of their upbringing.

The blogosphere has exploded in size in recent years. See the figure below from David Sifry’s State of the Bolgophere report (which he publishes every 3 months).

The blogosphere has been doubling in size every 6 months or so. It is over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago. I doubt anyone could have predicted how blogging would evolve.

River Festival

Below some footage of the fireworks at the opening of the Brisbane River Festival today.