Sampson, the TV adventurer, dishes out virtues of brain power

FORMER Leo Burnett ad man and T-shirt sporting television adventurer Todd Sampson had Brisbane legal eagles examining the nature of brain power this week.

Todd Sampson had Brisbane legal eagles examining the nature of brain power.

FORMER Leo Burnett ad man and T-shirt sporting television adventurer Todd Sampson had city legal eagles examining the nature of brain power this week.

Sampson, best known for his award-winning Redesign My Brain documentary, packed the Customs House on Thursday for a cocktail party and lecture organised by city law shop King & Wood Mallesons.

It was all a bit too Tony Robbins for your diarist and mainly a vehicle for Sampson to show videos of himself climbing mountains blindfolded or escaping from chains Houdini-like at the bottom of a swimming pool.

But Sampson, who now sits on the boards of Fairfax and Qantas, did run the audience through a series of interesting mind games that revealed how the brain works. One exercise was to name alternative uses for a shoe, which stumped most of the audience. Sampson says most nine-year-olds can come up with about a dozen alternative uses including a flower pot, drink container and fly swatter.

But apparently the older you get, the less-creative minded you tend to become. Of course, we all know crusty old lawyers reserve most of their creativity for preparing bills for their clients.

TRIPPING UP

THE complaints about Transurban’s new “road pass” payment system keep rolling in

Pat McCourt from Lawnton tells us he rarely uses the Gateway Bridge but when he does he used to be able to pay at his local service station within three days of travel under the old Go Via system. However, last December when he rang the Go Via call centre he was told this method of payment didn’t exist anymore and he would have to set up an account.

Transurban says it has introduced a new road pass system that allows travel over a 30 day period. It also has a new call centre provider.

Pat says he was charged $1 by the call centre person to set up the account but later discovered fees were not being taken out for his travel. After a flurry of emails and a threat to go to the Ombudsman, Pat says he was told he didn’t owe any fees.

“I have been told that the call centre person set up a temporary account for a temporary pass which is why I can now no longer log in to the account,” he says. He says as an older Australian, he found the new system so confusing that he has given up using toll roads.

It was interesting to note that Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton’s profit announcement presentation this week to investors boasted that a “new back office system creates greater flexibility for customers and makes travel easier.” Really?

COURT CASE

ONLY in Ascot. A youngster told to run around the tennis court on Saturday after missing a shot was heard to say: “You can’t make me do that. I have a lawyer you know!”

NO PHONE ZONE

ARE the mighty words of wisdom being delivered on high from the Tower of Power at 1 William St being stymied by a mobile black spot? A City Beat spy tells us that the mandarins using Optus network mobile phones can’t make outgoing calls from the 43-floor government building. Predictably they blame Campbell Newman’s government for not installing the right relay equipment. An Optus spokesperson says there is specific in-building coverage, but notes in order to improve “network experience” across all areas of the building additional in-building antennas will be accessed in April.