Archive for sydney
Bicycle Riding - Things I have discovered!
Posted by: | CommentsHeya all,
I have a bike that I have had for quite some time, my dad suggested to me on the weekend that I should look into some more social riding rather than just riding as a means of getting around.
So… to keep my mind off exams (which happen to be in less than 24 hours /cries) I have been doing some research on the topic and have found out some really interesting things.
The first site that I would like to mention Critical Mass Sydney, the site contains some really handy safety tips on the do’s and dont’s of riding a bike. As a note the site has adapted their article from BicycleSafe.org, however at the same time they have adapted some of the details for Australian roads.
Upon reading the Critical Mass article I actually found several things that I as a rider was doing which could put me in danger (without knowing), such as riding on the shoulder near parked cars. However I also found out details on a Hook Turn (an interesting method for cyclists for turning right from the left lane). So, it is something that I would really recommend a read of if you currently ride or are thinking of starting.
Another site I found was Bicycle NSW, now as a note I realise that the vast majority of these sites are aimed at people living in and around Sydney in New South Wales, Australia… however there is some great information on these sites regardless. Anyhoo back to it, Bicycle NSW brought up for me the interesting issue of public liability insurance for cyclists. I had never considered the need for a cyclist to take out public liability insurance (for those of you that do not know, public liability insurance covers third parties if you are the cause of an accident). As part of membership to Bicycle NSW, both personal accident insurance and public liability insurance (up to $20M AUD) is included. So I thought that this would be an interesting thing to bring up as perhaps something you should check out for in your local area.
The third and final site which I would like to bring up is one that is (once again) mainly aimed at people living in New South Wales, however you should do a web search for similar such sites/groups in your local area. The third site is PushOn, this site is a community site for people to meet up and organise social rides within their local community. This includes the wonder of Bugs (Bicycle User Groups), which are each run by volunteers and are very much a mini community of cyclists. So if you are in New South Wales by all means take a look, or if not do a search to find a similar organisation within your local area (either inside or outside Australia).
Well, in the interest of keeping my blog posts short so that I do not bore you all to tears, I will leave you on this note… my wise words for the day are… When you go back to riding after not having done so for a while… you end up with a REALLY sore behind (I know because I am in that boat right now /cries).
LOL behave yourselves all, and I will be back to my normal posting schedule after exams this Wednesday.
Stuart 
You try to do something nice…
Posted by: | CommentsHeya all,
Since I started blogging I have not really had a *gripe* post so to speak… However I wanted to see your thoughts on two things that occurred today.
Strangely enough both of these occurred on Sydney’s Buses. The first happened this morning when I was getting on a bus… the driver had a go at me because I was carrying a stock standard 600ml bottle of Diet Coke. Now in the 10 odd years that I have been catching Sydney’s buses I have *never* had an issue carrying a bottle of Diet Coke with me. I saw on one of the signs on the buses that food and drink were not allowed but… *REALLY* logic would dictate that if I am going from point A to point B in the city there is a really good change that I could have some sort of beverage with me. Thoughts anyone?
The second was this evening after I had been out for a game of snooker with my mate Tim. I was coming home on the second bus for the trip… a young teenager got on the bus at one of the stops and could not make the fare (for whatever reason, he had enough for the concession but not the full fee). I felt sorry for the guy and went up to the driver and said that I would pay the rest (it was only a dollar extra) and the bus driver refused. He told me that I could not pay the fare… I was *DUMBFOUNDED*. In the end I had to let it go, but I felt so bad for the guy. All I wanted to do was help out and I could not… Not happy JAN!!!.
So what are your thoughts on this? I honestly could not believe that I just wanted to help out and the driver would not let me. *Sigh* you try to help out…
Anyhoo that was my experience for today. As a plus keep an eye out for a special extra post coming within the next 2 days. *YAY* extra content.
See you soon… Stu
Atomic Live 2007 - Geek Conference
Posted by: | CommentsHeya all,
Once again my apologies for not being around this week, how I *hate* being sick. Let this be a lesson to everyone to not push yourselves to hard *hehe*.
Well yesterday I was feeling a little better so I decided to head to a conference I had been booked into for months. I do apologiese that there are only a few photos however I could not stay long… As I am still recovering I got tired quite easily (yea.. I know… *WEAK*).
So, this conference was basically a meeting with a heap of I.T. Vendors and a lot of my good friends from an online forum that I frequent.
They had some interesting things to see including a couple of done up cars (one of them a hummer which i got a photo next to):
I will not go into the depths of what was there as I know that only a tiny percentage of my audience would be into the geeky side, however there is one thing that I will say that they had… Booth Babes *grins*. Almost every I.T. Conference you go to will have them. I managed to get a chat with a few of them (and of course a photo too) so I thought I would include them here:
And now for a funny story. You will see in a lot of the photos I am wearing the NVidia Hat (see below photo). The story of how I got this was an interesting one. Before I being I must let you know that the current NVidia Slogan is “Bring It”. The NVidia team was throwing out hands and other apparel every so often, after four rounds of missing out on the hats I gave up and walked up to one of the staff and basically said… “Hey dude, can I please get a hat”. He then asked me “Well… how much do you love NVidia?”… Now I am standing there thinking, ‘what on earth can I say to that’. I saw the slogan on his shirt and blurted out the cheeeeesiest line I could possibly construct “Enough to Bring It!!!”… you can imagine the look on his face… he basically said.. that is so cheesy and so wrong… and *grins* he gave me the hat to get rid of me mwahahah.
Ok… so it was a really cheesy way to get the hat… but… mission accomplished in the end *hehe*. Well that has been the extent of my fun this week people. I wish I could say that there was more, but I have been at home the whole week 
.
For those of you looking for ABC Wednesday, I will be doing a double round this coming week of ‘N’ and the delayed ‘M’ so keep an eye out!
Well until next time, hope you guys enjoyed, I sure did getting out of the house.
Behave yourself and remember… Keep watching the skies (see there go the cheesy lines again)
Stuart 
ABC Wednesday - ‘L’
Posted by: | CommentsHeya all,
Once again it is time for ABC Wednesday. Until I manage to get the blog list up and running you can see all the blogs on Mrs Nesbitt’s Blog http://mrsnesbittsplace.blogspot.com/
This week is L, and I managed to dig up a photo I took of one of Sydney’s Ferries a while back. This photo was taken at Circular Quay in Sydney. The reason I have chosen this photo is because the Ferry is named ‘Lady Northcott’ the photo below is a smaller version, to clarify the name see the full photo here.
So here we have the Lady Northcott, one of Sydney’s smaller ferries:
I hope you all enjoy and don’t forget to see the other entrants too.
Stuart
Sydney - Powerhouse Museum Review
Posted by: | CommentsHeya all,
Sunday’s post this week is coming to you a day early this week. *grins* Lucky you!! - Last weekend I decided that I would head to the Powerhouse Museum, located in Darling Harbour. Getting to the Powerhouse Museum is quite easy. If you are in Darling Harbour then it is only a short 5 minute walk. Otherwise if you get off at Central Station you have about a 15 minute walk to get there.
Introduction
The Powerhouse Museum was originally opened to the public in 1988 and has since grown to comprise 22 permanent exhibitions, additional temporary exhibitions and a range of more than 250 interactive activities (Statistics taken from Powerhouse Museum Website).
So… what is the Powerhouse Museum… they have a collection of items from the old to the new, everything from fashion, clothing and items from the 1800s to items in innovation from the last few years developed by todays leading university students.
Now to some of the exhibitions.
Fashion - New & Old
This first area was focused around fashion. It had a lot of modern items and as you went further into the exhibit it was almost like stepping back into time. This was not just about clothes and fashion, however also things like fashion in the home, in pottery, furniture and the like. It was really quite interesting to see the old and the new side by side. It really does make me wonder what fashion will be like in another 100 years time, just how much things will change and what the world will look like.
Modern Innovations
The second area along was for modern innovations. This was a collection of some of the most prized innovations in recent years. It included both corporate innovations as well as items that had been developed by leading university students. Below are two examples, the first is for bicycles and assists to make them more visible with the use of bright lights on the helmet, gloves, and handlebars. The second is for firefighters to set up and point a hose at fire, so that the fire can be hosed unattended while the firefighters can focus on rescues.
“The Steam Revolution”
The next area I visited is known as “The Steam Revolution”. This was a favorite for me… as to why I guess it is just a guy thing, large engines… some primal instinct… who knows. This was also the first area that had some interactive activities which included small, manual air compressors and lifting weights as well as the opportunity to crank a driveshaft in order to power a series of small lights.
Space - The Final Frontier?
Next on the line was a tribute to Space Travel. A lot of the items in this exhibit were models (some life size others not), however it was still spectacular to see. There was also a large look inside an example space shuttle. Looking at living quarters, excercise bays, and of course the bathroom. When I first walked into this room, I was amazed at all the models hanging from the roof. Sadly, I could not get a decent photo as the roof was quite high up and of course the flash was hence, completely pointless *hehe*. So this is one you will have to see for yourself.
Sustainability
In the Sustainability section, there was a heavy focus on conserving the worlds resources. It covered ideas and new innovations in and around the home to help conserve energy. The below image of a car is a new hybrid model a Holden none the less, using electricity to replace petrol. The other image which look like a home, were actually a set which they had showcasing how light dimmers can conserve energy around the home and how touch screens may soon replace light switches to control devices around the home.
In Short
The Good:
- A very wide range of things to see
- Regular events happening at different times of the day
- You can see what you want when you want, and jump back and fourth between areas
- Many interactive exhibits
- Exhibits covered not only history but recent and future times as well
- Prices were *very* reasonable. See Powerhouse Museum - Hours and Charges for details
- Cafe prices were no more expensive than you would find anywhere else in Sydney (this was a very pleasant change)
- So many exhibits that I could only cover a *percentage* of them here
The Bad:
- Due to school holidays it was quite crowded and there were LOADS of little kidlets around
- There was just so much to see, to do it all in one day can be difficult
- While taking kids along they may get tired easily as it is a lot of walking around the complex
- The two temporary exhibits that they were running were nothing to write home about. SpecialFX I visited however the Diana Princess of Wales exhibit I did not.
In Summary
Overall I had an awesome day, and it has been a lot to try to fit into this one little page. I tried to get as many photos as possible for you, as one comment that had been put forward to me was that people really did want more photos. The reasonable cafe prices were (as mentioned) a very nice surprise. I had a pie and chips + 600ml Diet Coke for less than $10AUD. There is something at the Powerhouse Museum for everyone to see for all ages as well. I never seem to tire of going there. Weighing up the cost of the day (Less than $20AUD) for many hours of entertainment I had, the Powerhouse Museum really is priceless value if you are in town. On My 1-5 scale of 1 being not worth a visit and 5 being a must see. I give the Powerhouse Museum a 5/5. This is a must see while you are in Sydney.
Well I hope you have enjoyed reading this. Before I give you the final photos from the day. I would just like to say, if you do enjoy reading my reviews and would be interested in donating some money towards the upkeep of this site and also what it costs in time and money to go out and do the reviews and then writeups it would be greatly appreciated. You can donate through paypal (the same payment system used for a lot of Ebay transactions) by clicking the little Paypal Donate Button below. It of course is not required… but is appreciated.
Many thanks, and until next time… PARTY DOWN!
Stuart
