Greetings from Tall Karri Country
I was sorting through some old postcards that I bought during the trip around Australia my family did in 1992. Amongst them was this particular one. Now that I’m not twelve and obsessed by tractors and earth moving equipment it seemed quite bizarre. The caption on the back reads:
A view of a Karri tree being lifted prior to loading on to a truck at Pemberton Western Australia
Pemberton is in the southern part of Western Australia that features the Karri forests. According to Wikipedia Karri trees can grow up to 90m tall, making them amongst the tallest trees in the world. The photo seems like such a strange image to put on a post card. Can you imagine writing home to family telling them about the beautiful Karri forests on a card that depicts them being destroyed?
Gmail Stickers Have Arrived
Back in December there was a post on the Gmail Blog which gave instructions on how to get some stickers for the cost of postage. I thought I’d try it out so I sent them an International Reply Coupon (IRC) (something I’d never heard of before) and what do you know they showed up today. They managed to come all the way from San Francisco in an unsealed envelope too. Now to decide what to stick them to… and who to give the unicorn one to.
Moving Geeky Posts to Binary Trance
I read a post by Jakob Nielsen today titled, Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes. It was written back in 2005 but is still very relevant to today. The eighth point, “Mixing Topics”, which states, “If you publish on many different topics, you’re less likely to attract a loyal audience of high-value users” seemed particularly relevant given the diversity of topics in my recent posts. As a result I’ve decided to stop posting geeky content on this site and instead post that to my somewhat neglegted software site, Binary Trance (which needs a redesign). So if there if there is anyone out there that wants drop the personal stuff or keep getting the geeky stuff I suggest you check it out. If you’re just after the feed I can save you the trip: Feed for Binary Trance Blog.
Becoming a Melbourne Cyclist
Getting Started
With the move to Essendon and new job in January I decided I’d try my hand (or feet) at riding to work. There’s a coupe of obvious benefits. Firstly its good exercise and secondly each time I ride to and from work I save about $6 in train fares. After settling into my new job for a week and loaning my brother’s now mostly unused mountain bike1 I set off one Sunday night on a trial run. I did some research online and via the Melways with my Dad to determine the route. The trial to and from work straight after each other went well so I did it for real the next day.