TG’s WEBlog (Known
as a BLOG or Blogging) 2002
January
Blogs: Actions Speak
Louder than Words, Wordy Bullshit, Branding, Links Today, TV Heaven, Enemies
Bring Gifts, Debate on Dave Weinberger’s New Book, Change Now, Rant, What I did
on my Holidays, Fame and Immortality (Me and Bill Gates),e-business failures,
Parallels with my Father, Micropayments-The Future of the Internet, My First
Day at School, Football Memories and a Chance in Life, Rivers Link People,
Links, Design and Creativity, The Other Faces, 7UP, What is Voice?-Vision and
Action, Writing in Progress, Latest Virus Alerts, When is a Weblog a Weblog,
Hello 2002, Happy New Year, 2002 New Year’s Resolutions.
February
Blogs: Spike Milligan Dies, Camp It Up!, Cluetrain Savaged
(and the Nevilles), Goods Luck Elliot!, Monkey Brains, Busy and Thanks,
MindMaps and Walter Winterbottom, Radio 8 Blog and Micropayments, Morning
Pages, Women!, Jackson Browne Lyrics – Lives in the Balance, Let
the Consumer and Employee Revolution Begin, Life and Death, Corporate Rant,
Wilful Georgia!, Celebrity Blogs, United Internet, Friends Reunited at Work,
Immunisation?, Good Business Leadership, No Logo, Definitely No Logo, Missing
in Action, Paolo Di Canio.
March Blogs: Words Fail Me,
Losing My Religion, Bush Fire?, Fucking Telstra, Redflagsweekly, The Best
Companies to Work For?, Good to Be Back, Write On – Cling Sheets, Georgia,
Redundancy, Am I a Loser?, Google Image Searches, Sporting DNA, Corporate DNA,
My World has Changed, Internet Laugh, No Logo, Political Compass, Fark, Sex Sells,
Tourette Syndrome Barbie, Trailer Park (Trash?), Gauss Rifle, Bruce
Sterling, Deep Links and Google Scientology, Jimmy
Hill I love you because…,
April Blogs : Doctors-My Arse,
My Website Stats, FriendsReunited and Demography of Networks, Other People,
Today, Missing Days, Nothing Today, Aussie Humour, Come on England, Ethics,
Quality of Life, United Reject, I’m Tired, Israel, Vaccines, Computer
Addiction, Self Adjusting Networks, Website Redesign, My Website is Back, Apologies
for Telstra, Andrew Sullivan, Zipf’s Law, Fucking Telstra yet again, Still a
Snowboard Addict, and Logos, Redflagsweekly Again and The Queen Mum’s Funeral,
Game Addiction, Gravity and Science, Maglev and Political Power, Fark Links,
Lost Keys and High Hopes, Scientific Research Stinks, Big Companies, Dangers of
DHMO.
May Blogs: Georgia not sleeping, Georgia
not well, Sydney, QANTAS, Dave Portnoy – Friendsreunited, PC Cleanup, Cooking
Food is Killing Us, Printers and Designers, Telstra Update, Stupid White Men,
Fixit and Hoaxes, Website Nightmare, Blogging Time, ICL and British Invention,
Wedding Photos, Stressful Day, Good to be
Back, Crawling Daughter, Blue Peter, Anti-Gravity,
Mothers Day, Sven’s England Team, Man Yoo Mourning, Nothing and Tom Peters!,
Telstra yet Again and Broadband, Crawling!, Perth, Barbara Castle and Sliding
Doors, Enzymes.
June Blogs: Brazil, Tim Henman’s Serve,
David O’Leary sacking, Wheels come off WorldCom, Brazil beat Turkey, A Deeply
Frustrating Day, Sick, England Keep Falling Over, Oh No, England 1 Brazil 2,
America and Anthrax, Korea!, More USA and Football, Brazil here we come!, 3-0
to The Inger-land, England v Denmark, Dell, C’mon Inger-land, And just to prove
what crap Americans write, Isolation of the USA, Limitations of the Internet,
England, More Canberra Rex, Defer to your experts on the frontline, IBM PC
Visionary, Canberra Rex Hotel, Canberra, More Dyslexia, Dyslexia.
July Blogs: Laptop Troubles, Sense of
Direction, Rio, Miracles of the Mind, Sick and Tired, Lack of Fame – Janis Ian,
Fame, I want to live forever! Rod Steiger, Brisbane, Born in the USA.
August Blogs: Small Pieces Loosely
Joined, Wil Wheaton inspires me to Think
Big, Medina Apartments – Don’t Go There, Thank You QANTAS (Eventually), Strike,
Gold Coast Dreamin, Adversity, Queensland Taxi Driver, Chilean Taxi Driver,
Beckham’s Wiener, Founding Friends Reunited and Mark Purdey is a genius, I’m
Back.
September Blogs: Good Weather and Fast
Company, Dad, 25 Years Ago, Aussie Rule Grand Final, Banks and Mobile Phones (yet again), Just Back with Big Ideas, Nowt as queer as
folk (on the Internet), Roll on Wi-Fi, A Little Ray of Sunshine, Birthdays,
Lazy Sunday Afternoon, Calm Day Dreaming, Frustrating Day, Stuck, Raging Anger
with Australian Telcos, A Day of Contemplation, Death and Email, Leeds v Man
United, Taxi Drivers – Nepalese,
Chinese, Tanzanian, One Year On, Damn Modem Link, Double Bay, Corporate Rant,
Greece, Kurds, Literal Answers to Rhetorical Questions, Networking Challenge,
Ecademy, Wil Wheaton and the Power of The Internet, If you pray hard enough!,
Size Is Not a Strategy, Fathers Day, Roy Keane.
October Blogs; Georgie, Long Bets,
Redflagsweekly, Getting Hot and
Micropayments, All time England Team,
Fantastic Links, Clocks go Forward, Car Design, Gravity of the
Situation, Your Health – The Most Important Thing You Will Read All Year, Anti
War Rant, Health Rant, and Right Wing Rant, Great Britains, Van Nistelrooy, Wil
Wheaton’s Aunt Val, Technology Predictions,
CNN Disgust, Nice Ideas, Breast Cancer, Markets and George Soros, Boeings, Webcams and Bali, Webcam, Bali,
Child Vaccines and Risk, More MLM and a few ideas, Multi Level Marketing is not
pyramid selling, Who is Fredo?, Happy Mondays, How do you say goodbye in an
email?, Thank You Rockhampton and Cairns, Rockhampton Revisited, Ind
Tech-Bradford University, Education what is it good for?, Cairns to
Rockhampton, Education fails us,
November Blogs: One more month, The Best
Diet, Human Nature, Patronising Doctors!, Virtual Reality Idea, Football,
Growth of Chat, Is your computer safe?, More Bullshit Generators, Another great
day networking, and Values, A week or two or coincidences, Is it an Acorn or a
Rabbit Turd?, Loyalty, Tom Peters’ Slides, Nigerian Scams, Animal Farm and Weasels, Inkblot Test,
Optical Illusions, Airline Water, Small Power Sources, Salt, French Heart
Disease, Cholesterol Myths, Happy First Anniversary!, Russian Virus 666!, Fish,
and Metabolic Typing Diet, Why do we school our kids?, Baby Intelligence, Citeh
3 Man Yoo 1, I’m Frightened, Citeh and Leeds, Vaccine Rant and Football
Managers, Favourite Books, Melbourne Cup, Sticking the Boot in on the Monarchy,
Paul Burrell and The Monarchy, What are the Odds of Dying?, Top 100 Brands
2002, Aussie Time.
December Blog: Happy New Year, Twin Girls,
More Tax Returns, Lava
Lamp, Moore’s Law in 600 years, Disappointment, Great Day, and
Slayed my Dragon, String
Theory and 7 (or 11 or 26) Dimensions, Free Software and Consumer Anger,
The Great Australian Mobile Phone
Rip-Off, Conspiracy Theories, No
WoW Day, Venus and Mars Starting
Over, Aussie Soccer and a Puzzle,
We Didn’t Start the Fire, Happy Cotton, Tennis, Maps,
Hoaxes, Nigerians, All People are Idiots,
James Bond 007, licence to Sell, Banana Gig, Friday 13th and Gut Feel, Ecademy Starts Charging, The end of the Internet, Microsoft ClipArt Copyright and
the end of the Internet, Paula
Radcliffe and My Bike Fall, Man Yoo and Health, Yet More Technology Predictions, Censorship on the Internet, Branding, More
Technology Predications, Ranting yet again,
Who’s Scary?, Demotivation and On-Line Quizzes.
Coming Soon:
Tuesday 31st December 2002
Happy New Year to
all my readers!
2002 for me has
been great.
Watching Georgia
develop to the 15 month old she is now.
Business was
generally very good with some great training.
And we’ve settled
down well in Melbourne.
I read what I did
last year and funnily enough, Annie and I stayed in, Georgia wouldn’t go to bed
and eaten chocolate.
Just the same as
last year, except my Mother in Law was here as well!
I’m off to bed
now before 12-00 to watch Annie do a crossword in bed.
Ah, domestic
bliss.
I leave the
inspired wisdom, New Year’s resolutions and predictions until tomorrow.
Goodbye 2002,
I’ve loved you, but I wish you’d been kinder to more of the suffering people in
the world.
Happy New Year
Monday 30th December 2002
My brother in law
and his wife have had twin girls today.
Emily and Sari.
Went to see them
in hospital.
Little twin
girls, they’re so small, but a good weight, and they look very different to
each other.
Now Georgia
doesn’t have the honour of being the only girl cousin, it balanced up with 3
boys and 3 girls now, and they’re all 4 and under.
I’d love more
kids but not twins!
When I was much
younger I thought the idea of twins was great but given the choice now, no
thanks.
There are lots of
twins in Annie’s Family.
Her Dad was an
identical twin, her Dad’s twin brother had twins, and one of those twins had
twins, so 3 generations of twins and now another set of twins.
Watch this space!
Sunday 29th December 2002
Stayed in all
day, too hot to go out anyway, and completed my Aussie quarterly GST/VAT tax
returns.
I really have
been a good boy over the last few days, it’s just that I’ve done little else,
but at least they’re out of the way and I’m up to date.
Consequently,
it’s late and I’ve not got time to think or write the other pieces.
Maybe I can come
up with something quick.
Let’s give it a
go.
Saturday 28th December 2002
Just revamped my
office, unpacked and set up another table which we brought from the UK, a big
glass IKEA number.
Also set my lava
lamp up which a friend bought me a few years ago.
I’m so pleased
I’ve set the table up and the lava lamp
(and the website is pretty cool as well, and there’s mine on the right).
It takes me back
to my Camden days when I first met Annie.
And there’s
something so calming about watching a lava lamp.
The heat up, the
single bubble going very slowly up and down and then when it’s really heated
up, lots of flow.
So calming, so
arty, so scientific.
Welcome back lava
lamp!
Friday 27th December 2002
Yet another great
article in Wired magazine which I spent all night thinking about.
Wired
10.12: God Is the Machine
What it’s saying is
that everything in the Universe can be reduced to 1s and 0s, and that
everything in the Universe can be used to compute things.
But get this,
“Continuing in this vein, Lloyd estimated the total
amount of computation that has been accomplished by all human-made computers
that have ever run. He came up with 10^31 ops. (Because of the fantastic
doubling of Moore's law, over half of this total was produced in the past two
years!) He then tallied up the total energy-matter available in the known
universe and divided that by the total energy-matter of human computers
expanding at the rate of Moore's law. "We need 300 Moore's law doublings,
or 600 years at one doubling every two years," he figures, "before
all the available energy in the universe is taken up in computing. Of course,
if one takes the perspective that the universe is already essentially
performing a computation, then we don't have to wait at all. In this case, we
may just have to wait for 600 years until the universe is running Windows or
Linux."
The relative
nearness of 600 years says more about exponential increases than it does about
computers. Neither Lloyd nor any other scientist mentioned here realistically
expects a second universal computer in 600 years. But what Lloyd's calculation
proves is that over the long term, there is nothing theoretical to stop the
expansion of computers. "In the end, the whole of space and its contents
will be the computer. The universe will in the end consist, literally, of
intelligent thought processes,""
So what it’s
saying is that if you follow Moore’s Law and computing power doubles every 2
years, then in 600 years you’d have to use all the resources in the Universe to
compute! The article is also about us
living in a computer. Is the Universe
one big computer?
Read it and see
what you think.
Thursday 26th December 2002
I was going to
write today about one of the most inspiring articles I’ve ever read.
The trouble is I
read half of this article last night http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/prayer.html
Scientific proof
that prayer works!
WoW I thought
this is amazing.
However I read
the rest of the article this morning only to be saddened by its ending and
doubts expressed about the validity of the testing.
A great day’s
weather, went to St Kilda with Annie and Georgia, walked by the sea and then up
Ackland St.
And the greatest
news is I slayed my dragon of the last few years.
I did my UK Tax
returns.
I can’t tell you
what a relief that is.
It’s been hanging
over me for years.
Now I have to
face the consequences but I’m hopeful that everything balances up.
I’m owed and I
owe.
It’s not as
though I haven’t been paying my taxes, just not filling out the tax returns.
I just have a
thing about forms and getting them right, so I keep putting off doing them
until I gather all the information, but I never get round to gathering all the
information so it goes on for years and years.
So now it’s time
to slay a few more minor dragons whilst I’m in the mood!
Wednesday 25th December 2002
It’s Christmas
Day so let’s talk about something astral.
I read an article
the other day about String Theory.
And by
coincidence flicking through the cable channels today there was a programme on
the very same thing.
What is string
theory? A good question.
Simplistically,
it’s the building block of everything, all matter, time, forces. I think!
You have matter,
built of atoms which are built of particles which are electrons, neutrons, and
protons, which are built each of sub atomic particles called, quarks.
To give these
quarks their form they are built of strings which move and vibrate to give the
quarks their characteristics!
In order for the
maths to work there are more than the 4 dimensions we know of!
Depending on
which article you read there are 7 or 11 or 26 dimensions!
That’s mind
blowing.
The theory goes
that the Big Bang released only 4 dimensions and the rest are locked up in the
Strings!
What this
suggests is there could be other separate or parallel universes based on a
different set of dimensions.
So not only are
we the planet Earth in the Solar System around our own Sun, which is a star in
our Galaxy, and our Galaxy is one of many in the Universe, but there may be
other Universes!
And some people
think God doesn’t exist.
Well there’s a
lot to be going with before someone proves God doesn’t exist, because every
time we push the limits of what we know on a Micro and Macro scale there’s
always something else which seems to take us nearer to God.
What string
theory also makes me think about is that if there are other dimensions beyond
Time, then maybe God and spiritual forces and forces we have no conception of
exist and sometimes appear in our dimensions.
So strange
coincidences and happenings may be part of other dimensions.
What if you could
enter another dimension, what is it you’d see or experience?
Probably not a
lot because our 5 senses are geared for the 4 dimensions we exist in and we
struggle a bit with the 4th dimension of time.
It interesting
that so many articles over the last few weeks have all been talking about
Science and Spirituality.
Just started
reading this one.
Wired 10.12:
The New Convergence
It’s interesting
that God has returned to scientists.
What caused the
Big Bang?
What was there
before the Big Bang?
Why is there so
much order in the Universe; it’s mathematically very unlikely.
Is there a higher
being and maybe it exists in another dimension.
I believe in God
simply because I know so little and God represents what I don’t know.
The great unknown.
And knowing more
doesn’t lessen my belief because it shows how much more there is to know.
As humans first
we were Earth centric, then Sun centric, then Galaxy centric, and then Universe
centric.
And if you’re not
Universe centric, what are you?
Tuesday 24th December 2002
Following on from
yesterday, I realise that it’s not just mobiles that rip people off but many
many consumer items, and that the movement to download free software, and free
music, is that we as consumers feel ripped off and with no choice. We’re willing to pay but not be ripped off.
Mobile suppliers behave like a cartel/oligopoly not that they collaborate but no-one competes to rock the boat.
It's the same with banking, airlines, petrol/gas.
I was wondering if the reason that "free" software becomes available is that there's a point that we consumers feel ripped off by the high prices and poor quality of the suppliers in a market who won't allow free competition with pricing.
If the market won't adjust to a lower price then there must be a cut off point where we as consumers say, sod it, I'm off to Linux, Voice over IP, MP3 downloads, reproduction items, free Wi-Fi.
There must be some theory on pricing to the point of destruction?
Have I just invented this theory?
There comes a point where Microsoft is pricing me out of the market as a consumer.
I just can't keep putting PowerPoint on my laptop and PC when I only use one of them at any given time.
I'm not gaining any value in upgrading to XP.
At this point of "rip-off" then I start to consider "free" software.
That's how I feel about "free" music.
It's not that I want "free" music it's just that I'm angry about being ripped off by the record companies who at the time of moving from records to CD charged more giving us the impression that the cost of producing CDs was higher than pressing records.
It was only when AOL started dishing out the CDs what we knew something was up.
If the record companies want to give me a licence to play their music then fine.
How many copies of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album do you think I've bought in my life?
At least 6 copies.
1 album scratched
1 album stolen at party (remember when that used to happen?)
1 album
1 CD not working
1 CD not working
1 CD working.
Do you think "record company" I've paid my dues to Elton John and a few others?
Can I have a licence please to play Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and a refund on my five other licence copies!
Monday 23rd December 2002
We’re a being
bloody ripped off here in Australia for our mobile phones.
The handset is
now paid for additionally and separately.
The call rate is
22 cents per 30 seconds, yet that’s right, not per minute.
Oh and a
connection fee of 18 cents per call.
So that is 44
cents per minute plus a connection charge of 18 cents. Now we earn in dollars, so no need to work
out in pounds or US dollars.
So not only are
we ripped off on the call rate, we now pay for our handsets, and anything
special is on a 24 month contract.
I hate them, all
of them because they’re acting like an oligopoly with no competition and rates
so confusing you can’t work out if it’s competitive.
My contract is up
for renewal and I just don’t know what to do.
Ditch my mobile
altogether.
Pay as I go.
Renew at the same
rate.
Switch to another
network.
For the time
being I’ve had my Ericsson T28 repaired for the second time in 3 months, and
this is my third handset within 18 months.
My Ericsson
handsfree packed up 3 months ago.
So I’ve decided
to stick with my current handset much as I detest it, and wait until the
extended warranty runs out which I’m assured is in 1 years time.
I’ve bought a new
Ericsson hands free which is a rip-off at $66, but I’m not paying for cheap
shop imitation. I learned that from past
experience.
I’ve paid just
for the handsfree instead of the minimum $250 for a new handset which can now
range up to $1000+, so in fact I’ve saved money by sticking with my current
handset (which to say again, I detest!).
They can take
their colour screens, fancy covers, ringing tones, and other useless add-ons
and shove them where the sun don’t shine, until they come up with genuine new
technology which is worth paying for.
I’d considered a
combined PDA/Mobile, but why would I pay $1600+ to carry my address book
around.
I might as well
put the money towards a decent laptop.
Roll on the day
of all one PC/Mobile/PDA/GPS for less than $500.
Sunday 22nd December 2002
I love reading
about conspiracy theories but I rarely believe them.
I think that
usually, accidents happen and we try to extract more meaning from them than is
really there.
The Kennedy
Assassinations, Marilyn Monroe, other assassinations and attempts.
UFOs and hidden
government knowledge, I find hard to believe.
The moon landing
conspiracy is an interesting one, which is possible but unlikely.
I was watching a
programme on conspiracies and about people who believe in them.
The New World
Order, The Protocols of the (Learned) Elders of Zion. The Bilderberg Group.
I find it
difficult to believe that these groups meet and carve up the world.
Sure they meet up
(not the Elders of Zion though), but it depends on what spin you take on their
meetings and whether or not it’s conspiracy.
I don’t think it
is. The more time goes on the more I
believe Kissinger (Chile and Cambodia) to be a nasty piece of work from what I
read, but Dennis Healey as a founding member of the Bilderberg Group as a
conspirator. Very unlikely.
On the other
hand, I don’t trust the motives of the Bush family. Oil, power and greed.
But I don’t think
they’re sophisticated or intelligent enough to arrange mass world conspiracies
Now having said
that, I thought some more about conspiracies that I know of.
In I.T and
computers, in industry, in science.
What prompted me
to think about this was a programme on a guy who claims to have invented a new
radical power source, being blocked by a conspiracy between the U.S oil
industry, the U.S Patent Office and U.S Government with Ronald Reagan; and the
U.S courts seemed to support some of his claims.
Wasn’t it ever so
that radical new science is blocked and unbelieved when it first comes out.
Mark Purdey and
BSE/CJD, Tim Sprott and SIDS, John Gofman and X-Rays, there’s a new one of
Kendrick and Cholesterol, Adkins and Diet.
The list goes on
and on. Why does no-one listen to these guys and act on what they’re saying, or
at least listen to what they’re saying?
Coming back to
industry and conspiracy. I’m convinced
that there’s a lot of conspiracy and corruption with pharmaceutical companies
with drugs and vaccines.
Immunisation
programmes. I don’t think governments
are deliberately conspiring with these companies but more a conspiracy of
stupid ignorance. Science has become
corrupted by big industry funding and governments listen to these scientists.
My own view is
that software groups like the Open Software Foundation were formed to not promote Unix as
they claimed, but to kill it by not showing a united front against. It set Unix back 10 years and did the
trick. Only now with Linux, is Unix
proving a potential threat to Microsoft.
What it needed was a united front to develop Unix, and those members of
OSF were never committed to a united front.
And they mostly paid for it dearly by letting Microsoft grow.
What about
tobacco companies and the hiding of test results on the threat from
smoking. What about what they put in
cigarettes? I guess these are bordering
on industrial conspiracies. What about
the food we eat? Is that a conspiracy by
the food suppliers and farming?
I know in my
heart of hearts that there are industrial and financial conspiracies.
Does that mean
that grand scale political conspiracies really exist?
I doubt it, but
you never know.
If The Queen really
said to Paul Burrell that there are forces at work beyond our knowledge then
you really never know!
If you want the
most extreme view on conspiracies then believe him or not, David
Icke is always good to listen to and read!!
Not sure about
the lizard brains though!
Saturday 21st December 2002
I really have
nothing to write about today and no links caught my interest.
I’ve had such a
nothing day around the house, not going out.
Playing with
Georgia, drawing with her, building with bricks.
Emails to catch
up on and send, and now my writing for the day.
I guess some days
it’s just like this.
Nothing has
inspired me to say WoW today.
It’s a no WoW
day.
Friday 20th December 2002
I’ve been Sales
Training all day, so I’ve had very little time on the Internet today.
I really enjoyed
the training group today and felt I gave it my best.
The feedback was
very good, and even if it hadn’t been, I know in my heart I gave it my best
shot.
Nice group, nice
people. Fun.
No time for the
other bits of writing today.
A friend who I’ve
recently reconnected with has just emailed me to tell me their partner is
having an affair and it’s their birthday and they have two small kids, what
should they do?
So I’ve just
written giving my advice.
So I’ve run out
of time to write anything else tonight.
One thing I will
add as my link for the day, I found John Gray’s Mars and Venus Starting Over (A Practical Guide for finding
love again after a painful break-up, divorce, or the loss of a loved one) a great
help and source of comfort when my first marriage broke up.
Thursday 19th December 2002
I watched
Australia v France in the football, I watched Australia struggle to win 1-0
against Uruguay, and I watched Australia live on the telly get stuffed by
Uruguay in Montevideo, to go out of the World Cup play off. There is no way Oceania should have a World
Cup qualification place at the expense of a South American or European team. They’ve done nothing to deserve it, and we
want to see the best at the World Cup, and not the most politically
convenient. There’s no guarantee that
this will revive the poor state of Aussie Soccer here in Australia.
And watch out for
New Zealand. There’s nothing they like
better than pacing themselves against the Aussies and then giving them a
walloping even though on paper they stand no chance.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/12/18/1040174296572.html
Football
news, fun, results and features from Football365.com
Puzzled? Then try this http://members.evolt.org/simonc/images/puzzle.gif
Wednesday 18th December 2002
This is fun. We Didn't
Start The Fire
It show what’s possible
with a bit of imagination and some time.
Just find a song,
some good lyrics, and do a Google Image search on each part of the lyrics.
It’s very good
and shows what’s easily possible.
Creativity can be
yours with modern technology.
Tuesday 17th December 2002
Happy Cotton
Annie. It’s our second wedding
anniversary today.
Wedding
anniversaries and birthstones, appropriate presents for each year.
A few interesting
links today. The head of British Tennis
development has resigned to go back to coach the French Davis Cup team.
He states what’s
wrong with British tennis, and he’s spot on. BBC
SPORT | Tennis | Where British tennis falls short
I’d also add that
a Bjorn Borg hasn’t come along to galvanise British Tennis players and kids and
inspire them to what’s possible.
A couple of
graphic representations of what’s going on.
Network Weather
Maps - Mappa.Mundi Magazine - Map of the Month
An
Atlas of Cyberspaces - Information Space Maps
I could spend
hours studying this type of thing.
It appeals to my
type of mind and thinking.
INTP by the way. Me and Einstein. No wonder he’s my hero.
A couple of moon landing
conspiracy or non-conspiracy sites to keep you going.
Apollo11 This second one
is bollocks I reckon and a hoax in itself.
I’m not one for
believing in conspiracies, but if there was one that is possible, it’s the moon
landing.
I’d say 70/30 in
favour that the moon landing happened.
And finally in
case you’ve run out of Nigerian Net Scams, here’s another one.
Wired
News: Nigerian Net Scam, Version 3.0
Monday 16th December 2002
And here’s a few
more to add to the Scott Adams (Dilbert) belief that all people are idiots.
BBC NEWS
| Scotland | Paedophile film fears 'protectionist'
BBC NEWS
| England | Nativity video ban
Now how stupid is
that?
What I resent is
not being allowed to photograph or video my daughter in an innocent
situation. You’d have to ban almost all
photography on this basis.
And what’s worse
is that if you had to seek consent from all parents to take a group photograph
or video, there’d always be at least one not giving their consent.
I think there’s
an obsession with paedophilia.
We behave like we
live in worse times and have become over protective.
I’m not aware
that there is any more danger than there was 40 years ago. See Myra Hindley.
Of course there’s
more exchange of information on the Internet, but so what?
I want the people
who are harming children dealt with.
The ones who look
at photos are secondary, and just an easier target.
It makes the
police look good and gives the impression that something is being done.
And looking at
recent scandals in the Catholic Church it’s just not being dealt with.
Of course there’s
the argument that those looking at photos are supporting those who harm children.
So let’s ban all
photos of children just in case.
Of course I’m
against all forms of exploitation of children, but now I’m a father I can speak
with a bit more authority, and I think there’s fear being spread through
society in wrong areas, and meanwhile those really dangerous people are getting
away with it whilst Edinburgh wastes money implementing a ban.
To quote from the
second piece.
“Richard Stay, Bedfordshire County
councillor, criticised the ban.
"It is a ridiculous decision,"
he said.
"It is political correctness gone
mad. As a father of a two-and-a-half-year-old child I would be concerned if it
was my child's school.
"I think it is absolutely
potty."
Here Here.
And what about
this taken from the second piece as well.
"This
also applies to photographs being taken with a digital camera."
Do these people understand technology
and what they’re talking about, like as if you can’t scan a “normal” photo and
make it digital.
So you’d have to
ban all photography. In fact you might as
well ban all cameras everywhere.
And just in case
that’s not enough, we have another case of spilled coffee.
Fast-food
coffee may be in hot water again
Sunday 15th December 2002
How stupid do
advertisers and companies think we are?
If James Bond,
Piers Brosnan and Halle Berry advertise or use a product then ooooo, I must
have it.
What level of
person sees Halle Berry using Revlon make up and says wow I must try that.
Or Piers Brosnan
wearing a watch. Oh I must save up for
that.
Come on. James Bond is a parody of itself.
It’s old hat.
Maybe it looks
glam to the rest of the world, when it’s lost in translation, but is it just me
who wouldn’t buy anything advertised or associated with James Bond, except the
original Aston Martin DB5, Corgi Car or the real thing.
Hey maybe it does
have an impact (if you’re a 7 year old) because I’d settle for a DB5 for a car.
How stupid do
advertisers think we are?
I guess stupid
enough to buy the product from seeing the adverts, unless the product suppliers
are even more stupid and their sponsorship and advertising has absolutely no
effect on us, but they think it does, because the advertisers con them.
Saturday 14th December 2002
Just writing
about bananas in my Rimmer
Shit today, which reminded me of this story which happened to me.
I went to see Eddie Izzard in concert, 1st
April 1996, a spoof April 1st gig at a former church in Islington.
I was sitting on
the front row with my girlfriend who was starving hungry.
I happened to
have a banana with me because I’d come straight from work.
She ate the
banana.
Eddie came on
stage.
He was doing a
routine about fruit.
He’d got to
pears, and how they’re only perfectly ripe for 4 seconds, and either too firm
or mushy.
He then moved on
to bananas.
“Why is it that
in a film comedy people used to trip on banana skins?
Like as if
there’s ever a banana skin lying around and you go up to it and trip on it.
It’s not as
though you come along a banana skin everyday lying on the path.
Well do you? You
don’t see banana skins everyday just lying around, do you?”
And that moment I
looked at my girlfriend, she looked at me, and I did it!
I grabbed the
banana skin (what are the chances of this happening in the middle of a comedy
gig) and lobbed it in an arc on to the stage.
The audience
collapsed in laughter (I exaggerate but it was very funny), and for one split
second, I swear there was a look of terror in Eddie Izzards eyes.
He didn’t know
what to say, and then he recovered and put the heckler (me) down with a
“That’s typical
isn’t it we have a member of the audience sitting here waiting for joke on
bananas so he can throw a banana skin on stage.”
The coincidence
of Eddie Izzard asking how often you see a banana skin lying around in a public
place and me happening to have a banana skin an be sitting on the front row is
just one of those magical coincidences.
I’d love to ask
him one day if he remembers that happening to him, and if he did, what he
thought in the split second the banana skin flew through the air and landed on
the stage.
Friday 13th December 2002
Do you fear
Friday 13th?
Then you are a Paraskevidekatriaphobic!
It doesn’t really
explain why Friday 13th carries such superstition, just a
combination of the number 13, Friday and of course some religions.
Oh and menstrual
cycles as well.
I read the whole
of the Gut Feel article last night.
WoW. It’s a real eye opener, and a must to read.
Good decisions are
often not made on weighing up all the facts.
Often there are
too many facts and too little time.
So intuition and
gut play a strong part.
“Klein was studying firefighters, who operate under
conditions quite like war. To his consternation, Klein learned that
firefighters don't weigh alternatives: They simply grab the first idea that
seems good enough, then the next, and the next after that. To them it doesn't
even feel like "deciding."
Inspired by Klein, Van Riper brought a group of
Marines to the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1995, because the jostling,
confusing pits reminded him of war rooms during combat. First the Marines tried
their hand at trading on simulators, and to no one's surprise, the
professionals on the floor wiped them out. A month or so later, the traders
went to the Corps's base in Quantico, Va., where they played war games against
the Marines on a mock battlefield. The traders trounced them again -- and this
time everyone was surprised.
When the Marines analyzed the humbling results, they
concluded that the traders were simply better gut thinkers. Thoroughly
practiced at quickly evaluating risks, they were far more willing to act
decisively on the kind of imperfect and contradictory information that is all
you ever get in war.”
Thursday 12th December 2002
So Ecademy have
started charging for some of their options on their site.
Some have joined,
some have declined. I don’t know what
the numbers look like.
I think this charging is a bit premature. It's potentially threatening the network.
I like many others won't leave, but not pay, sit back and see what
happens.
If the numbers joining and "power networkers" grows then maybe
I'll sign up.
The number of people joining looks like a steady straight line growth.
There’s no exponential growth yet like Friends Reunited.
But it could happen.
But what am I getting?
I invited all the Melbourne and Victoria people registered on Ecademy to
meet up in Melbourne.
Not one person in 45 people replied, even to say no.
We’ve been extolled to build a network of 1000+ people, but what is the
value of that. $100k apparently.
I get it with each 1000 people being worth $100k, but not 1000 Ecademy contacts
most of which don’t go anywhere and are dead accounts.
One true measure of activity is the number of people writing profiles
and putting their pictures online.
Those are more likely to be true networkers, and there’s not many of
them per month.
What it’s set me thinking about (as someone whose website is now ranked
191, 769 in the world!) is what can you charge for on the Internet.
I’m not the first to think about this, and it’s probably been the number
one biggest question over the last few years of commerce.
So I’ll let you know when I have the answer.
AndrewSullivan has just started asking for pledges to his
website to keep it going.
I’m more inclined to give something to that. There seems goodwill there, just as there is
with Friends Reunited.
But there’s something about Ecademy that doesn’t feel right.
And it’s not just me that feels that.
It’s my Gut Feel.
Wednesday 11th December 2002
Don’t
underestimate this story, BBC
NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Australia makes landmark net ruling
The
implication of this is terrifying.
Surely it means you can’t say anything about anyone.
Is
this the end of the Internet?
Wired News:
Aussie Can Sue Over Online Story
Guardian Unlimited | Online | How Diamond Joe's libel case
could change the future of the internet
I’ve been thinking
some more about this, especially as Gutnick is Melbourne based.
He’s a well know
character in Australia and Melbourne.
Owned Melbourne
Football Club for while, and fingers in lots of pies.
Also withdrawn
fingers from some pies recently and cause some upset.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/18/1037599366762.html
A philanthropist
as long as you play by his rules.
What is the
impact of this ruling?
In my mind it means
that anyone writing on the internet will have to look over their shoulder at
nearly 200 countries’ defamation laws.
How is it
possible to then write anything on the internet?
Unscrupulous
people could now run a Google search for their name and pick a country to sue
in!
I guess if you’re
on the receiving end of defamation that can’t be pleasant.
People saying
things about you, you know to be untrue.
But this ruling
whilst following the letter of the law, somehow doesn’t feel quite right.
The Internet doesn’t
quite work this way, and I don’t think Gutnick realises the full extent of what
he’s done or the wrath it may cause.
Tuesday 10th December 2002
I’ve hit on a
query I don’t know the answer to.
Is ClipArt
copyrighted? Can you use it in public
presentations? Can you print your
PowerPoint Slides out and charge for them as many trainers do, if they contain
ClipArt images? Microsoft is not very clear
on this.
Can
anyone give me a clear view on copyright when using Microsoft ClipArt?
The
website is not very clear
Permission:
Use of Images
http://www.microsoft.com/permission/copyrgt/cop-img.htm#ClipArt
“Microsoft
will not assist you in making a determination between commercial or
non-commercial use, nor can we provide you with legal advice as to publicity or
trademark rights. If you are having difficulty deciding whether your intended
use is appropriate, or whether you require written permission, or whether other
legal issues should be considered, we strongly encourage you to seek competent
legal counsel.”
Well
that’s not much help is it? Surely it’s for Microsoft to determine what is and
isn’t copyrighted. And as for commercial and non-commercial use. If
I’m giving an internal presentation to my company that’s ok. What if I give a
presentation to another organisation, is that commercial use? And now the
crunch. If just supposing hypothetically speaking, I’m a sales trainer
with my own company and I’ve produced my own material to present in PowerPoint,
and the material that the attendees take away as course notes are my PowerPoint
slides photocopied, which contain ClipArt images, and I’ve charged for them to
attend the course and I’ve charge them for my material, is that an infringement
of ClipArt Copyright?
And
the reason I’m asking, is that if I want to publish examples of my work on my
website, and if I want to write a book on my excellent, new and original sales
training, and it contains Clipart objects, where do I stand then? Answers
anyone?
Of
course if the answer is no, then count me in for the Open Source movement, and
does anyone know where I can find Open Source objects for no charge?
It’s
that or get my camera out and photograph a few frogs myself.
I
suspect that Microsoft don’t know themselves because as their library of
ClipArt grows they’re involved with more and more third parties with varying
agreements which would be difficult to give a definitive answer on. It’s a mess.
I want to produce and maybe publish material, but I’m beginning to
wonder if I should use ClipArt at all.
In
fact, should I be using PowerPoint at all?
Monday 9th December 2002
When I’d first
written these webpages last year, I’d put my favourite Olympic event of Sydney
2000 was
“Events of Olympic 2000 - Men’s Rowing 8
(and Paula Radcliffe coming 4th in the 10,000m, we
Brits love a brave loser!)”
I loved the
brave run she went on in the Olympic final to lose the 3 other women. She ran her guts out; and came fourth.
“So many times she has left the track behind
the winner, failing to make the major breakthrough that would define her career
and bring her the recognition her talent and courage deserve. And each time she
has accepted defeat graciously, vowing to win the next time. In a world of
spoilt sports stars, Radcliffe's quiet dignity is a rare and welcome sight.”
And now this
year, my oh my.
Commonwealth
Games Gold Medallist
London Marathon
Winner
Marathon World
Record Holder in winning the Chicago Marathon
World Cross
Country Champion
Second fastest
10,000m ever (the fastest being a debatable record)
And stands out
against drug taking and blood doping, causing her to be accused of the same
thing!
And now BBC Sports Personality of the year.
Remarkable for
someone who’s had so many setbacks and yet come through.
So of course
this caused me to go on a bike ride today, to get rid of the cobwebs and get
some fitness.
I have a fear
about riding around Melbourne, and that fear came true today.
Many of the
Melbourne roads have trams, and therefore tram lines.
I realised this
over a year ago when I first started cycling, that you’ve got be careful not to
get caught in a tram line.
You’ve got to
make sure you go over the tramlines at right angles and not near parallel, or
jump them.
Last year I was
on Hawthorn Rd and turning right and I nearly got caught in a tram line and
fell into on-coming traffic.
So today, I’m
cycling back home in light rain up Glenhuntly Road, and a car overtakes me and
then pulls in front of me and parks illegally.
I take this in
my stride, but what they’d effectively done is block the view of a car parked
ahead who now starts to pull out so they can see.
In other words
they’re sticking out in the road and I’m cycling towards them, and I don’t know
if they’re going to pull out.
No problem,
what I usually do is pull out a bit wider so they can see me, and it gives me
some room if they do pull out.
Just one
problem!
This all happened
so fast, that I pulled out too wide, and lodged in the tram line.
And of course
life starts to happen in slow motion, now.
The wheels jam
in and slip and slide along the tram line, because it’s raining.
I instinctively
lean left to try and get out of the tram line.
Too late, the
bike slides beneath me.
Oh, and did I
mention my one other fear? I’m clipped
into the pedals.
So I’m stuck in
the tram line, I’m clipped in to the pedals; I’m sliding sideways towards the
car that’s pulling out.
Holy Shit!
I let out an
Ahhhhhhhhhh as I hit the road.
I go flying.
My shoulder
takes the first hit. My elbow takes the next hit. My arse takes the next hit and the bike pedal
takes the final hit.
Now that takes
care of the side momentum.
My knee and
hand take the forward momentum!
There’s blood
and grazes on my knee, bottom and elbow.
Ego
bruised. I have fallen.
This all
happened in a split second.
I’ve not fallen
off a bike since I was a kid, and not had many sporting accidents.
Let’s put it
down to experience.
What would I
have done differently?
Nothing! Just avoid as much as I can the roads which
have tram lines on them.
And doing a
Google search I’m not the only one who’s had this type of accident.
Be warned! Avoid cycling on the roads with tram tracks,
especially when you have to turn right and you risk slipping into the tracks.
Sunday 8th December 2002
At least Man Utd
played well.
2-0 win over
Arsenal. Instead of a few players
playing well, they all played well.
The usual 3, Scholes,
Silvestre and Solskjaer.
Even the off
formers, Phil Neville and Veron were great.
What happened?
The ref as usual
slightly favoured Man Utd, and Arsenal were playing away, but nevertheless,
United played really really well.
So many options
in defence and midfield, that it just needs a forward or two to strengthen the
squad.
I sometimes love
it when there’s lots of injuries because sometimes you get to see what players
can do, out of their usual position.
Defenders can
become midfielders, but rarely the other way round.
I’d love to see
Silvestre play left midfield with a full back behind him.
And is there any
position O’Shea can’t play?
And Liverpool
lost.
A few good health
pieces, largely from the excellent Dr Mercola and Redflagsweekly websites.
I was thinking of
looking at the Atkins Diet, mainly out of curiosity but read this,
and Metabolic Typing Diet seems better. I must buy it.
Some other good
articles from both the websites.
Achieve
Independent Health With My Nutrition Plan
Interview
with Dr. Brian Vonk of The Optimal Wellness Center
MARILYN
HOLASEK LLOYD about a woman who sought alterative cures for cancer.
Women
Have Higher Risk of Dying from Osteoporosis than Breast Cancer 12/4/02
It’s really clear
that conventional medicine is fucked! Not all of it, but the idea that there’s
a pill for everything is just corrupt and stupid.
The Brian Vonk
interview is good because it shows what conventional medicine is good for and
what Natural Health is good for.
One is
prevention, the other is for urgent symptoms, and may not work anyway. Guess which one works best?
And I found this
whilst looking for the Metabolic Book, Amazon.com: Books: The Curse of Louis Pasteur
Saturday 7th December 2002
8 years ago I was
thinking of joining a company that supplied wireless LANs, so even then I could
see the growth.
It’s relatively
easy to predict what will be big; the challenge is when will it be big.
It’s amazing what
we can achieve with technology it’s more a matter of when will it be adopted.
Many technologies
could be with us now if the economies of mass production would allow it, but if
early adopters won’t pay for it, so often it’s difficult to launch new
products.
As I’ve often said,
we have the technology to travel at several hundred miles per hour on transport
that costs a fraction of conventional trains and aircraft but we don’t do
anything about it, because the set up costs are too large. Maglev.
PDAs and Tablet
type PCs have been around for a long long time but had never taken off, but now
look at them,
Wi-Fi:
As big as Budweiser? - Tech News - CNET.com
I
was begging a few people over a year ago to look at Chat for its potential in
the workplace.
Drinking
at the virtual water cooler - Tech News - CNET.com
And
now look. Proven right yet again.
I
won’t reveal the things I’ve been proven wrong on, so that I look very wise.
Friday 6th December 2002
Two very
interesting articles about Internet censorship in Saudi Arabia and China.
All traffic is
controlled into the two countries and there is strict censorship in some areas.
What’s
fascinating is how the two countries differ in what they censor.
It’s a reflection
of their fears and the tide which they’re trying to hold back which will
eventually engulf them.
Wired
News: Why Countries Make Sites Unseen
Wired
News: An Inside Look at China Filters
Of
course we in the west are smug and don’t have censorship.
I
thought about it and realise that yes we do.
Sites
with child pornography would be closed down, corrupt sites under the
jurisdiction of say the USA would be closed and I’m sure bomb making sites
would be blocked. So who says we don’t
have censorship. We always have. So we can’t be so smug and judge our
censorship as better than theirs.
You
would be arrested if found looking at child porn just as you’d be arrested for
prohibited categories in China and Saudi Arabia.
We’re
smug aren’t we because our censorship is right and theirs is wrong!
Thursday 5th December 2002
Two fascinating
articles below about the Apple Brand.
Why the loyalty
and the community spirit around the brand
Wired
News: Apple: It's All About the Brand
Wired
News: For Mac Users, It Takes a Village
If
I were an Apple user I’d be quite angry with the article, because it suggests
that it’s not about technological choice or superior product, but that you’ve
been hoodwinked by marketing branding!!
The
second of the two articles is more lenient, suggesting that community spirit
and brand association with others is what drives the love of Apple.
Saab
is cited as another example, and having owned 2 Saabs I can understand
this.
Saab
even play up to this with the Saab 900 by putting the ignition for the key near
the handbrake.
It’s
strange how 10 years after owning my first Saab, I go and buy the identical car
10 years later.
And
when I say identical, the two cars are same age, so my
It’s
true, most of us want to belong to a community, and if you can create a brand
that has a community spirit, I think that’s fun and exciting.
But
I also hear Naomi Klein’s warnings about branding disguising, in my
words, crap and exploitation.
Wednesday 4th December 2002
I was just
thinking some more about technology predictions, especially after reading this
Wired
News: Tech Specs: Less Geek, More Chic which confirms one of my long time
predictions of eyewear viewing for computer output.
I think the main
growth will be wireless everything.
Probably Wi-Fi and maybe something else.
I have a new
predication. A TLA (Three Letter
Acronym) will come along to supersede ERP and CRM.
The I.T industry
will invent a new name for something that’s been around for a long time in
order to sustain the type of growth that ERP and CRM has done for 5 years each.
I have new long
range prediction. The industry is
looking for something that is on the scale of Y2K to kick start things.
What about this
one! A personal identifier. A single number to identify each person in
the world, either an IP address or some other form.
The Americans are
attempting a “Total Information Awareness System” Wired
News: Total Info System Totally Touchy
Just one problem
with it. There’s too much information to
gather from too many disparate systems.
Of course you
could build one single database of everything which Mr Ellison and Oracle wants
to do.
I think giving
each person a unique number (“I am not
number, I’m a free Man!” comes to mind) would do it.
If another
terrorist atrocity happens, say a dirty bomb, what choice is there.
It would aid
security, and require such enormous I.T software changes that the economies
would fire up for the next few years a la Y2K.
I guess the
current Total Information System is bit piecemeal, yes it’s an intrusion on
privacy and liberty etc etc, but what’s the choice.
The
UK is canvassing for an I.D Card
So why not?
Finally, this
article really irritates me. Since when
did a share index be a measure of economic performance?
There are some
possible truths in it about that lack of European performance though!
Tuesday 3rd December 2002
No links of note
today, just a general rant about how bad people are at staying in touch.
Business people
who don’t reply to emails, voicemails, or who tell you they’ll call you back
and don’t!
Friends who don’t
reply to emails, and even if they don’t use email a lot, they don’t phone
either.
Maybe I need to
take the hint!
Maybe I am taking
the hint. Goodbye!
It’s simply that
people have a list of priorities in life; what they do in their 24 hours, and I
don’t feature in their top 20, let alone their top 10.
It’s as simple as
that.
What they’re
saying is, “I have 24 hours in the day Tony, and you don’t feature in my top
20”
Fine. I’d better find some business people and
friends who do want me to feature in their top 20, because out of sight out of
mind, and I believe business and friendships should be a living thing, and not
something that you resurrect at their funeral.
Oh and by the
way, if you want more balance in your life, I have the tool that might just
help you.
Monday 2nd December 2002
I’ll tell you
who’s scary.
I was walking
along today, and for some obscure reason, Donald Pleasence popped in my mind,
the part in The Great Escape where to prove he’s not blind he picks a pin up
from the floor. Now Donald Pleasence, he was scary.
And I always get
the name mixed up with Donald Sutherland.
Now he’s scary as
well. And come to think of it there was
always something sinister about Denholm
Elliott.
And this set me thinking
about who else is scary. Dr Phil and Anna Raeburn for starters.
They’re both
pretty scary. “Snap out of it and pull
yourself together” type therapy.
And that Tommy Lee Jones,
and Jack Palance, they’re pretty scary.
And most of all,
I can’t forgive Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List.
Who appears nice
but are really scary? I’ll tell you who.
Most child
psychologists who appear on TV, as well as paedophile experts and serial killer
experts on TV.
Is it just me or
does it take one to know one?!!!!
And I’ve never
been quite sure about that Bill Clinton
Sunday 1st December 2002
I can’t believe
it’s December already.
Let’s get
December off to a good start with these.
the 2003 demotivators®
collection This is very funny and reminds me that sometimes I and other
take things too seriously!
Delve in a bit
and it gets even funnier. Excellent
spoof. Can you really order the
products? If not, it would make a great
business.
This is in a
similar fashion if you’re sick of answering on-line quizzes. Popular Quizzes