http://www.ockle.org/blog Martin's Minddump. Mindfield. Data Minding. Whatever. Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:43:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (A tour with Maxi: VBZ and Radio 24 are helping to raise funds for the new elephant park in the Zoo. Come for a tour around the city in a Tram pulled by Maxi, one of the Zoo's elephants. Departures at Bellevue, 1st of April 2009, 1-2pm.) Does Yarra Trams ever ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2009/04/02/i-like-zurich For your amusement, here are the complete, unabridged, faithfully copied instructions for The Shin Woo Digital Pedometer. Digital Pedometer Step Counter The efficiency of 10thousand pace checker It takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk 10 thousand steps and the distance is approximately 7km. Of course, it is not easy to ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2009/02/10/the-shin-woo-digital-pedometer On the weekend in London I learnt that the punctuation symbol "?" has a pronunciation: "isn't it". As in, "Who's going to Cardiff, isn't it." http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/12/08/learning-english-in-england This time in photos: [caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="At the Opera house"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_151" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="The new and the old Macbooks"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_152" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="Snow in Zürich"][/caption] http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/11/24/updates-again This blog was originally intended as a way to keep distant friends and family informed of the goings-on in my life, in acknowledgement of the fact that regular email updates were unlikely to happen. Since then, it has somewhat strayed from this intent, partly because I have simply written ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/08/31/just-the-facts-maam I've often noticed that you can get a good handle on the difference in mentality between Melbourne and Sydney by checking the "Most viewed articles" box on www.theage.com.au, and comparing the most read articles in the SMH and the Age. Since I first observed this, they've kindly added the ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/07/02/starbucks-in-sydney Martin: Oh look, there's the Euro fanzone, let's go inside and see what they've done with all that prime real estate. Fat-Necked Security Guard: No. Martin: Huh? FNSG: Your camera. Too big. (Security guards talk in short sentences.) M: What?? FNSG: Too big. Too professional. M: Please tell me you're joking. Another FNSG (they also hunt ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/06/08/a-football-story An image is worth 1000 words. So here's several thousand words to make up for the recent silence. (Blogfade? I laugh in your face. Ha. Ha. Ha.) The start of my garden... What the birds did to my basil plant Food at Google Earning a bit on the side ("breast enlargement through ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/06/01/recently-collected-images Today's evidence: The front page of the Palo Alto Mercury News praises the AMGEN Tour of California bicycle race as having (and I quote) "more cowbell". At the next table during dinner, a young man entertains his date with a detailed explanation of how he has his work mobile and home phone ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/02/19/silicon-valley-is-crazy Yup, I'm back in Silicon Valley, for a slightly longer stay this time (4 weeks). Wasn't so long ago that I was here last, but I'm still stunned by how bizarre it is. Got asked today by a kid on the street if I had MySpace. WTF?? ... http://www.ockle.org/blog/2008/02/17/back-in-the-usa