The new Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre* web site looks visually ok, and it has some general text about the Centre. But all the useful information is only contained in downloadable PDFs. Why?

Aren’t web sites put up to convey information to people? To make it easy to find out about your product/service? Not to make people jump through hoops?

The one page of the site contains a spiel about the ITAC, that it cost $40 million, and an overview of the Aquatic and Health and Fitness facilities. The only empirical data is the opening hours, 6am-9pm Monday to Friday and 6am to 8pm on the weekend.

If you want to know prices you have to download a PDF. The PDF has a list of prices for Casual Entry, Multi Visit Passes and Memberships. But no explanation of the details like what a City of Sydney Aquatic Centre Concession Card is, what you get for Aquatic Membership, or how long it lasts. A page of prices and explanations would be nice.

There is a pop-up window that plays an exert from Channel Nine News about the Centre, but the window isn’t big enough to display the controls to pause or replay the footage. (For your convenience click here to get the controls.)

The only other page is a form to Become a Foundation Member. Lots of question, but no explanation about what a ‘Foundation Membership’ entails or how much it cost. “We will contact you shortly regarding your enquiry”.

I could go on about all the problems, but the above should convey the gist of it. And there really isn’t much to go on about. The Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre web site is really just one page. One page on the YMCA Sydney site.

The ITAC opening was delayed. Surely they could have done a better job of the web site while waiting for the Centre to be ready?

It’s funny to see user error messages on computers that act as public notice boards. You would think that this process could have been automated.

This photo was taken of one such notice board at UTS in building 2.

At $2.49 for a 250g block that’s just under a cent per gram. Very cheap Cadbury chocolate.

Magnetic signs on cars are an interesting usage of technology. Though it looks like someone had fun with these ones.

I came across this real estate agent’s car parked in the Enmore. You can see what look like a business card stuck to the car door, though up side down. Close inspection showed that the label was one big magnet.

It looks like a good way to have one car that can be easily customised for whichever real estate agent needs it. Unfortunately it also leaves room for people to play with.

A fantasy plague that accidentally ran amok in the internet’s most popular game world, populated by nine million flesh-and-blood players, may help scientists predict the impact of genuine epidemics, according to a study released Tuesday. World of Warcraft is being used as a model to test the effects of epidemics like bird flu. (SMH, 21 Aug 2007)

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Finishing lunch under the tower building a low whining sound could be heard in the background. And after a minute I realised it was a file alarm. And moving out side I found these 2 fire engines attending the building.

Turns out it was just a false alarm on level 2. No need for me to be late to my next lecture. And most people seemed to have ignored the alarm, continuing what they were doing.

So who’s responsibility is it to evacuate people if there really is an alarm? When I realised it was a fire alarm should I have pointed this out to the rest of the people in the food court? Should building security or people from the Union make announcement and organise people to leave the building in an orderly manner? Who is the fire warden for that area?

If/when there really is a fire in the tower building at UTS I hope that more is done to evacuate people from the building.

An arrow made from plastic cups in the fence on Broadway, opposite UTS building 10. Quite nicely done.

A newspaper famous for printing extraordinary stories will finally cease printing. Succumbing not pressures about the validity of its stories, but to its bank balance.

Praised in the movie Men In Black as “the best damn investigative reporting on the planet”. At its peak in the ’80s the Weekly World News sold 1.2 million copies a week. In recent times its circulation has fallen to 80,000. Reports suggest its demise is due to the internet stealing its reader base, and a reduction in advertising revenue.

So, after 28 years, the last issue will be printed on 27 August. But don’t worry, the WWN will still be available online.

References

1. Tabloid Soon to Check Out (NPR, 25 July 2007)
2. Aliens abduct supermarket tabloid (News.com.au, 13 Aug 2007)
3. America mourns supermarket tabloid (BrisbaneTimes, 13 Aug 2007)
4. Landmarks: Tabloid checks out (SMH, 14 Aug 2007)

Photo of King Street bridge in Newtown at peak hour. It amazes me how many people don’t wait for the lights, and just try to cross between the cars.

Not that I would wish them any ill will, but some people need to learn that dusk is the most dangerous time of day. People are tired from work, and visibility is lower but drivers have not turn on lights yet.

Last Friday I came across this device in the men’s room at UTS. A shiny new hand drier, with an LCD screen.

As you stand to dry your hands advertisements are displayed (along with tinny music).

Is the uni finding itself so low on money that it needs to display adverts in the toilets?