Always Travelling
June 30, 2006
World's most popular blog
It's in Chinese and is written by Xu Jing Lei who is apparently a Chinese movie star (I have to watch more Chinese movies!)... link to the blog.
According to a post on mashable, each post attracts over 1000 comments.... well I've had a look at the blog (and if my Chinese is correct), it seems to be that per post over 1000 trackbacks (indicating that someone has linked to you), and over 20000 comments!!!
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wait, I was wrong. It's the other way around I think. Many of the posts have well over 1000 comments though. That's pretty huge.
According to a post on mashable, each post attracts over 1000 comments.... well I've had a look at the blog (and if my Chinese is correct), it seems to be that per post over 1000 trackbacks (indicating that someone has linked to you), and over 20000 comments!!!
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wait, I was wrong. It's the other way around I think. Many of the posts have well over 1000 comments though. That's pretty huge.
June 28, 2006
Moving on
I posted this tonight on .net. It was not a deep and thoughtful post but rather done out of a need to post something about the recent change. It's done and finalised, and my thinking about it was rounded off about a week ago too. I'm pasting it here (instead of writing something out for this blog) because I'm lazy tonight and I want to go to my warm bed.
Most of you who read this blog knew already about my stepping down early because I've contacted you in one form or another. It was the best thing for the LC and a necessary step for me. If you would like to discuss, call or email me :)
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Hi everyone,
Most of you who read this blog knew already about my stepping down early because I've contacted you in one form or another. It was the best thing for the LC and a necessary step for me. If you would like to discuss, call or email me :)
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Hi everyone,
May Lew was confidenced by the Executive Board as interim LCP for the Curtin Local Committee on Wednesday 21st June. This was in response to my stepping down from the LCP position the previous Monday.
I've been struggling at uni for the last 2 semesters because of my inability to focus and commit time to my studies. In theory I should have been able to balance aiesec and uni well, but in reality I haven't. I've stalled three quarters through my course and I must get back on track. My course was always going to be long - 5 years full time - but now I'm stretching it to 6 years given I don't fail or withdraw from any more units. This is my personal situation.
From a committee perspective there were 2 good reasons to step away now. Firstly, with the change already made, May and the EB, and the Curtin delegation as a whole can bond at Julycon and come back refocused and reenergised. Secondly, I wouldn't have been the leader that that LC needs to go forward in the second half of 2006. My original thoughts were to bring elections forward and do a quick transition, however I believe the course of action we've taken to be the best one for the LC.
Moving forward, I'll be a keen observer of the LC and will be in and around the hub doing various things with the Department of Community Life. If anyone wants a mentor, and they can't find someone better, I'm open to proposals. I'm also open to coffee and a chat, and feel free to utilise my personal network or run something by me for another perspective.
I will always be keen to talk to aiesecers and of course will be on the look out for opportunities for the LC. It's been an awesome ride and I have a lot of confidence that the LC is moving in the right direction.
If anyone wants to contact me to talk about this or for any other reason, you can call my cell on 0439911832 or email me at nicholas.trim@gmail.com
June 26, 2006
I have broadband back!!!!!
and I'm so happy! This is one saga that I hope to forget.
That's a big donation!
Warren Buffett has decided to donate shares currently worth $US30.7 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (letter to Bill & Melinda from Warren). Original coverage.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and wikipedia article. The 2005 annual report is good reading.
I hope that some of the obscenely rich get inspired by this and, if they're not already, take a similar route.
Lastly, it makes me feel warm inside to hear someone like Buffett say, "I still believe in the philosophy...that a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing". Old money makes for spoilt rich kids, just look at Paris Hilton.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and wikipedia article. The 2005 annual report is good reading.
I hope that some of the obscenely rich get inspired by this and, if they're not already, take a similar route.
Lastly, it makes me feel warm inside to hear someone like Buffett say, "I still believe in the philosophy...that a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing". Old money makes for spoilt rich kids, just look at Paris Hilton.
Kookaburras
June 24, 2006
Bible Blogging
To believe something unquestionably - I struggle with this. Is it not human nature to question things? Isn't the desire and the ability to question the basis of intelligence? Nothing is immune from a child's questioning mind. I like to think that if someone pointed out to me a fundamental assumption I make, I'd be open to questioning it and taking on other alternatives before settling on the best based on merit.
If I was to pick up a religion, I'd question my belief all the time. I think this is healthy. I have no issues with believing something. The point I'd like to make is that if I was believing something on faith alone, without rock solid fact, I'd recognise that and have that clear in my mind. I would be able to question my belief and return the answer that I have no solid foundation, but that I have faith anyway. I would need that clear distinction; I couldn't be unclear on that point, especially with regards to religion. I tend not to talk much about religion - I avoid it, after all other people's business is none of mine, etc and so forth.
One thing that does get to me though, I admit, is when committed Christians (and I refer to Christians here because the majority of people I know who are religious would call themselves Christian) know next to nothing about their religion's history, and know next to nothing about other religions, especially in this case Judaism and Islam. It's not only that they have complete faith in something they know little about, it's that they don't question this and actually seek out information. Something as central to an individual's belief system as religion is taken as given when given and in the manner it is given, without question. Surely this subject should have the most questions asked of it, it is that important to us. Yet, many people don't ask, don't question, don't really think too much about it - they just believe. To me, this isn't intelligent behaviour.
A further point. Many committed Christians don't know much about any other religion. This strikes me as... blinkered and well I've run out of describing words. Say that Jesus was a Jew, and they gasp. Say that Muslims recognise Jesus as a prophet, again clueless. You know Jesus probably wasn't white with blue eyes like you've seen in the movies - why would he be, he was in the middle east. Noah and the Ark is common to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. etc and so on.
Hmm, writing down more examples perhaps would distract from the point I'm trying to make. That point is that to me it seems like when it comes to religion, so many assumptions go unquestioned. It's like we're not willing to put our beliefs to the test, look from other perspectives, gather information, and only then decide based on as much info as we can get together.
I'm absolutely no expert and will never be on this topic, but I'm not going to believe something unquestionably. For others, it's none of my business although it does strike this cord within me, and whatever makes people happy is great.
Today I saw a blog that got me thinking again on this topic and I suppose inspired this posting. It's called Blogging the Bible and I recommend it.
If I was to pick up a religion, I'd question my belief all the time. I think this is healthy. I have no issues with believing something. The point I'd like to make is that if I was believing something on faith alone, without rock solid fact, I'd recognise that and have that clear in my mind. I would be able to question my belief and return the answer that I have no solid foundation, but that I have faith anyway. I would need that clear distinction; I couldn't be unclear on that point, especially with regards to religion. I tend not to talk much about religion - I avoid it, after all other people's business is none of mine, etc and so forth.
One thing that does get to me though, I admit, is when committed Christians (and I refer to Christians here because the majority of people I know who are religious would call themselves Christian) know next to nothing about their religion's history, and know next to nothing about other religions, especially in this case Judaism and Islam. It's not only that they have complete faith in something they know little about, it's that they don't question this and actually seek out information. Something as central to an individual's belief system as religion is taken as given when given and in the manner it is given, without question. Surely this subject should have the most questions asked of it, it is that important to us. Yet, many people don't ask, don't question, don't really think too much about it - they just believe. To me, this isn't intelligent behaviour.
A further point. Many committed Christians don't know much about any other religion. This strikes me as... blinkered and well I've run out of describing words. Say that Jesus was a Jew, and they gasp. Say that Muslims recognise Jesus as a prophet, again clueless. You know Jesus probably wasn't white with blue eyes like you've seen in the movies - why would he be, he was in the middle east. Noah and the Ark is common to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. etc and so on.
Hmm, writing down more examples perhaps would distract from the point I'm trying to make. That point is that to me it seems like when it comes to religion, so many assumptions go unquestioned. It's like we're not willing to put our beliefs to the test, look from other perspectives, gather information, and only then decide based on as much info as we can get together.
I'm absolutely no expert and will never be on this topic, but I'm not going to believe something unquestionably. For others, it's none of my business although it does strike this cord within me, and whatever makes people happy is great.
Today I saw a blog that got me thinking again on this topic and I suppose inspired this posting. It's called Blogging the Bible and I recommend it.
Like many lax but well-educated Jews (and Christians), I have long assumed I knew what was in the Bible—more or less. I read parts of the Torah as a child in Hebrew school, then attended a rigorous Christian high school where I had to study the Old and New Testaments. Many of the highlights stuck in my head—Adam and Eve, Cain vs., Abel, Jacob vs. Esau, Jonah vs. whale, 40 days and nights, 10 plagues and Commandments, 12 tribes and apostles, Red Sea walked under, Galilee Sea walked on, bush into fire, rock into water, water into wine. And, of course, I absorbed other bits of Bible everywhere—from stories I heard in churches and synagogues, movies and TV shows, tidbits my parents and teachers told me. All this left me with a general sense that I knew the Good Book well enough, and that it was a font of crackling stories, Jewish heroes, and moral lessons.
So, the tale of Dinah unsettled me, to say the least. If this story was strutting cheerfully through the back half of Genesis, what else had I forgotten or never learned? I decided I would, for the first time as an adult, read the Bible. And I would blog about it as I went along. For the millions of Jews and Christians who know the Bible intimately, this may seem obscene: Why should an ignoramus write about the stories and lessons that you know by heart and understand well? I don't intend any kind of insult. My goal is not to find contradictions, mock impossible events, or scoff at hypocrisy. Nor am I quite stupid enough to pretend that Judaism (or Christianity) is just the Bible. Jews are not only the People of the Book but the People of Many Books. There is the rest of the Hebrew Bible—the Prophets and Writings, the vast commentary of the Talmud, the stories of the midrashim, and thousands and thousands of years of other law and story and commentary. This 4,000years' worth of delving and discussion is totally unfamiliar to me—I can't hope to compete with its wisdom. Nor is there any shortage of modern advice on how to read the Bible. (Just look up "How to read the Bible" on Amazon.) There are experts to tell you why the Bible is literally true, others to advise you how to analyze it as history, and still others to help you read it as literature. You can learn how to approach it as a Jew, a Catholic, an evangelical Protestant, a feminist, a lawyer, a teenager.
So, what can I possibly do? My goal is pretty simple. I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. I think I'm in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people (Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus). I love Judaism; I love (most of) the lessons it has taught me about how to live in the world; and yet I realized I am fundamentally ignorant about its foundation, its essential document. So, what will happen if I approach my Bible empty, unmediated by teachers or rabbis or parents? What will delight and horrify me? How will the Bible relate to the religion I practice, and the lessons I thought I learned in synagogue and Hebrew School?
June 23, 2006
What a shocking referee
I have a family that shouts full-on at the TV every 30 seconds or so, where mum has to walk outside of the room and watch on the other tv because she gets so worked up.... where things get broken when we jump up wherever there is a shooting opportunity... imagine the scene at my house during today's match - 3am to 5am in the morning in Perth!!
Graham Poll had the worst match of his life. There are too many occasions where stuffed up to list here.
Anyway, I laugh out loud at the prospect of actually beating Italy, but I want to believe in it!!!!
Graham Poll had the worst match of his life. There are too many occasions where stuffed up to list here.
Anyway, I laugh out loud at the prospect of actually beating Italy, but I want to believe in it!!!!
June 22, 2006
Triple Screen Display
Drools....
Matrox TripleHead2Go. Fools your computer into thinking you've got a single massively wide screen capable of a 3840 x 1024 display, then splits it for 3 screens. I've emailed off to see where they stock it and what it'd cost in Aussie dollars + handling. I'm so up for a multiple monitor display... such a geek I know. It's either this or getting a couple of graphics cards in SLI for a triple display. Dual display is much easier to setup, but the graphics card in my computer at home only has a single VGA port and no DVI port (which usually doubles with a DVI-VGA adapter to be used for the second display). The DVI port is the one you usually hook data projectors up to. With the TH2G it looks like, from what I've read, I only need a single VGA port and that my graphics card should be able to handle putting out a 3840 x 1024 display.
I have 2 spare big old CRT monitors at home so this project might be feasible in a couple of months :) I'm psyched! You know using multiple monitors increases your productivity by 20 - 50%, it must be true cause Bill Gates said it :)
Matrox TripleHead2Go. Fools your computer into thinking you've got a single massively wide screen capable of a 3840 x 1024 display, then splits it for 3 screens. I've emailed off to see where they stock it and what it'd cost in Aussie dollars + handling. I'm so up for a multiple monitor display... such a geek I know. It's either this or getting a couple of graphics cards in SLI for a triple display. Dual display is much easier to setup, but the graphics card in my computer at home only has a single VGA port and no DVI port (which usually doubles with a DVI-VGA adapter to be used for the second display). The DVI port is the one you usually hook data projectors up to. With the TH2G it looks like, from what I've read, I only need a single VGA port and that my graphics card should be able to handle putting out a 3840 x 1024 display.
I have 2 spare big old CRT monitors at home so this project might be feasible in a couple of months :) I'm psyched! You know using multiple monitors increases your productivity by 20 - 50%, it must be true cause Bill Gates said it :)
June 21, 2006
Myspace - hype?
Myspace - from Techcrunch (link to post)
MySpace has 75 million users, 15 million daily unique logins, is growing by a massive 240,000 new users per day, and is generating nearly 30 billion monthly page views (that's 10,593 page views per second).
MySpace hasn't overtaken Yahoo yet in terms of page views (see UBS Comscore Analysis PDF here), but they are a solid second and are ahead of giants like MSN-Microsoft, Time Warner (including AOL), eBay, Google and Facebook.
MySpace also has the sixth largest market share among search engines, even though they aren't, actually, a search engine.
MySpace hasn't overtaken Yahoo yet in terms of page views (see UBS Comscore Analysis PDF here), but they are a solid second and are ahead of giants like MSN-Microsoft, Time Warner (including AOL), eBay, Google and Facebook.
MySpace also has the sixth largest market share among search engines, even though they aren't, actually, a search engine.
I don't know about you, but when I think myspace I think "bleuhhhh... I can't be bothered and I don't care". It screams tween hype and reaks of friendster - ie, glorified contact book with a continual race to see how many contacts you can amass. At least in my mind.
But, myspace is huge!!!!! Newscorp bought myspace back in July last year for $580 million. That's a lot of cash. Anyway I think this is one craze that I'll watch from the sidelines.
But, myspace is huge!!!!! Newscorp bought myspace back in July last year for $580 million. That's a lot of cash. Anyway I think this is one craze that I'll watch from the sidelines.
Skolling at Statecon
Love this pic (click for bigger version)
Gotta love the passion involved in boat races. If the aspect ratio was right I would have cropped it and made a banner out of it. But alas...
June 20, 2006
On laser eye surgery
"Nearly a third of every 1,000-member Naval Academy class now undergoes the procedure, part of a booming trend among military personnel with poor vision.""In the Naval Academy's class of 2006, 349 of the 993 midshipmen had the surgery, up from 50 five years ago, according to Naval Academy records. Fewer than 30 percent of the academy students whose eyes qualify for the surgery choose not to get it, and the number of holdouts is dropping every year"
I'm getting more and more confident about getting laser eye surgery the more I read about it. I think it'll be one of the first things I do once I start earning real money. Plus, having a flap cut in my cornea doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as having part of my cornea ground away.
"The procedure used by the Navy, photorefractive keratectomy, or PRK, is different from the one used on most civilians. That approach, known as laser-in situ keratomileusis, or Lasik, requires cutting a flap in the surface of the cornea and then using a laser to reshape the cornea. But military doctors worry that the flap could come loose during combat, especially in a supersonic fighter.So rather than slicing into the cornea covering, Navy doctors grind it away. The approach requires a longer recovery as the covering re-forms but leaves the eye more stable."
Impressed, Surprised, Annoyed
Impressed: I went into the Curtin gym today to enquire about membership costs. The guys there recognised me from 2 years ago. They then proceeded to treat me like an old mate and took me for a tour of the facilities. They've spent $200,000 upgrading the gym since I was last in there and it shows. I was given a real salesjob alright: after the tour I was given a details sheet to fill out and quoted a fee... then when I said I didn't have the cash on me, was told that if I come back before 9pm (when the place closes up) I'd get a free month on top of the 12 that I'd sign up for. They also booked me in for an assessment next Tuesday. Well, sales job or not, I was impressed by the facilities, and even if I wasn't I would have joined as it's convenient for me (being on campus) and I desperately want to get back into it. I'll head back in there later on today after I get a cheque off my mum :) I'll pay her back!
Surprised: I have been looking for the best way to digitise my old photos. I was thinking that there must be a way to scan 35mm photographic film to produce high quality digital images.. went into a photo shop yesterday at Carousel and asked about it. Yes, they do have that available, but it's pricey! $10 per film or $1.40 per strip (usually when you get your film processed you get the film and photos back in a folder with the film cut into strips of 4 or 6), plus $10 for then burning onto a CD. This might be a project I put on the backburner till I have some cash spare.
Annoyed: I hate my phone. It's an LG - 3 phone. I just got a call from 3 trying to get me to upgrade to a new phone. The good thing I learnt was that my contract runs out at the end of next month! Freedom! I'm getting off this stupid contract and getting onto a service that actually works.
June 19, 2006
Poor Teddy!!
hahahaha. You can imagine the looks this thumb drive would get in the computer labs... especially from the tiny asian girl crowd.. you know the type with little pink cats on their car dashboard etc... link.There are some seriously cool peripherals reviewed over at Engadget. There was a post recently I saw about the weirdest usb peripherals... things like usb-powered heated gloves and usb fans and all that sorta thing. Can't find it though.
Update: USB Air Conditioned Shirt!!
Tabblo
I read about Tabblo a couple of days ago and used it because I could integrate it with my flickr account, thus doing away with the need to upload photos to another online silo. What is Tabblo all about? They started with this observation: "There is no good online application for putting together photos and words with styled templates that can be customized by the author for the purpose of telling a story."Well... blogs can be for that right? But I suppose blogs are too complicated for many. Anyway, I was able to sync my flickr and tabblo accounts with a few clicks and they have some neat tools to create what in essence are collages or storyboards. All the metadata (tags, dates, privacy settings, etc) was brought over as well.
I've made 3 'tabblos' pretty easily. I highly recommend you take a look at the WA Statecon 2006 tabblo (I haven't put it on this blog as it's too long and is viewed better on it's own page). The one to the right is the Vegemite punishment at that conference.
I haven't uploaded all the statecon pics yet to my flickr, but you can access them using the statecon06 tag, here.
June 18, 2006
Two degrees at once = a long time at university
Bachelor of Science (Psychology), Bachelor of Commerce (Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations)
But I'm not complaining (edit: now that I've finished the post, I do complain quite a bit late in the post haha). I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at uni... although as I've commented to a few people lately, I haven't really been a student for a fair while. I used to be a pretty good student too, I mean nothing spectacular, and I was never passionate about it either, but with no other real focus in my life I at least did my weekly readings/study/assignments and attended class each week pretty much without fail. If I was a regular three year single degree type student, I would have sailed through uni and shot out into the workforce without much fuss... the first 3 years of my course went by pretty uneventfully and I had an average in the mid seventies. Uni has never been very difficult - it's all about application; if you apply yourself and do the study, you'll get the rewards. If you don't, then you suck, and you fail - or you leave with crap marks and you'd better have been doing something else with your time to make up for it.
If you're interested, you can check out the outline of my course here. As you can see, the course is set out semester by semester in a very rigid manner. I always found it fascinating (and confusing and unnecessary) the lengths Cindy had to go to at the end of each semester choosing the units for the following semester. I had no choice! There were only two units out of forty-two that I had a choice in what I'd study, and even then I had to choose from pool of about 5 or 6 course-related units.
I suppose now is a good time to list a few complaints I have with my course:
More to come. This post is already long enough :)
But I'm not complaining (edit: now that I've finished the post, I do complain quite a bit late in the post haha). I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at uni... although as I've commented to a few people lately, I haven't really been a student for a fair while. I used to be a pretty good student too, I mean nothing spectacular, and I was never passionate about it either, but with no other real focus in my life I at least did my weekly readings/study/assignments and attended class each week pretty much without fail. If I was a regular three year single degree type student, I would have sailed through uni and shot out into the workforce without much fuss... the first 3 years of my course went by pretty uneventfully and I had an average in the mid seventies. Uni has never been very difficult - it's all about application; if you apply yourself and do the study, you'll get the rewards. If you don't, then you suck, and you fail - or you leave with crap marks and you'd better have been doing something else with your time to make up for it.
If you're interested, you can check out the outline of my course here. As you can see, the course is set out semester by semester in a very rigid manner. I always found it fascinating (and confusing and unnecessary) the lengths Cindy had to go to at the end of each semester choosing the units for the following semester. I had no choice! There were only two units out of forty-two that I had a choice in what I'd study, and even then I had to choose from pool of about 5 or 6 course-related units.
I suppose now is a good time to list a few complaints I have with my course:
- The first complaint is that the first unit that relates to either of my commerce majors is an Intro HRM unit in semester 4, which means that I'd be at the end of my second year of the course before I got a taste of the area I'm majoring in. What if I hated it? Lots of people change course, but with only one other Commerce & Psychology combination (Psych/Economics - see here), there's not much flexibility and it's a large investment in units to throw away if you do change.
- The second is that they keep changing the course structure! Although I keep on the structure that I started on back in 2002, the changes they've made are quite large. Some units I've done have been removed altogether. That's what happens when you're a uni for such a long time I suppose.
- The third is that for each of the first six semesters I had a research methods unit. That sucks. Six consecutive units of statistical analysis and research methodology - with hardly any other psychology units for background or context. In RM322 I was doing a 50% research proposal deficient of 5 psych units that the normal psych-only students had under their belts. And they didn't take it easy on select few double degree students in the same boat as I. Little wonder I got a bit disillusioned with psychology at this stage and change my units around to do all commerce units the following year.
More to come. This post is already long enough :)
June 17, 2006
Telstra
Getting broadband up is driving me insane! They've made a series of errors, and now they're insisting that everything is good to go, but I've just had a technician out and he we did a comprehensive process of elimination and nothing is wrong on my end!!! This is really testing my patience. I've spent a good 10 hours on the phone to Telstra over the last 2 weeks.
Redesign done
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Once again, it looks better on firefox. In IE the biggest visual thing is that the email subscribe box doesn't vertically centre, which is a pain. I tried doing it creatively using line breaks to centre but then things just got messy. So I'm just leaving it as be.
I've made the text area much bigger, enlarged it slightly so more readable, and attempted to clip the post length by cleaning up the code in places. There are a few other changes that I did on the fly.
I'm still thinking how to incorporate a link for the archives. Perhaps just after the 'my profile' link I could do a link for the archives which when hovered over could display the months to choose from underneath the blue area... hmmm we'll see...
Here's a screenshot of the blog the way it was before (click for larger version):
Once again, it looks better on firefox. In IE the biggest visual thing is that the email subscribe box doesn't vertically centre, which is a pain. I tried doing it creatively using line breaks to centre but then things just got messy. So I'm just leaving it as be.
I've made the text area much bigger, enlarged it slightly so more readable, and attempted to clip the post length by cleaning up the code in places. There are a few other changes that I did on the fly.
I'm still thinking how to incorporate a link for the archives. Perhaps just after the 'my profile' link I could do a link for the archives which when hovered over could display the months to choose from underneath the blue area... hmmm we'll see...
Here's a screenshot of the blog the way it was before (click for larger version):
June 11, 2006
Wishlist
Alas, they all cost money... but I'll knock these over one by one...
- An SLR Digital Camera. My camera is broken and I miss it. Thus very few pics on this blog lately.
- CELTA. I want to travel and I want this qualification under my belt when I do.
- LASIK. I would happily do away with my glasses, and I look forward to doing the many things I cannot do now.
- Gym membership. I want to get back to it. 2 years ago I was benching what I now weigh (a bit under 80kgs).
- Dual screen display on my computer, after exams I'll do this one. More on this point to come.
Planning a bit of a redesign
After exams, I'm going to do a bit more fiddling with the design of this blog.
Firstly, I'm going to take out the right hand column. Considering I've already taken out most of what would go in such a column, including links to friends' blogs, links to other sites, what I'm reading etc. this won't be an issue. Then I'm going to extend the post text to the width of the white space currently. Below the banner picture I'm thinking of putting what is currently in the right hand column, minus the archives; it would be a few lines in height only, maybe with the light blue that I use at the very top and bottom of the blog as the background. It would be my name and a few words about the blog on the left then the subscribe box on the right. Then I'm thinking of a footer, with archives, friends etc. There are many good examples of blog footers out there, scroll down to the bottom of this blog to see what I mean http://www.postbubble.com/
Any suggestions on how I could redesign the site, or anything you think I should do? I'm not worried about problems with coding/designing, when you can visualise how you want it to look you can then search for the right code or technique to make it happen.
Firstly, I'm going to take out the right hand column. Considering I've already taken out most of what would go in such a column, including links to friends' blogs, links to other sites, what I'm reading etc. this won't be an issue. Then I'm going to extend the post text to the width of the white space currently. Below the banner picture I'm thinking of putting what is currently in the right hand column, minus the archives; it would be a few lines in height only, maybe with the light blue that I use at the very top and bottom of the blog as the background. It would be my name and a few words about the blog on the left then the subscribe box on the right. Then I'm thinking of a footer, with archives, friends etc. There are many good examples of blog footers out there, scroll down to the bottom of this blog to see what I mean http://www.postbubble.com/
Any suggestions on how I could redesign the site, or anything you think I should do? I'm not worried about problems with coding/designing, when you can visualise how you want it to look you can then search for the right code or technique to make it happen.
June 05, 2006
World Internet Usage Statistics
I came across an interesting post on Read/WriteWeb with the headline Worldwide Internet Penetration is just 15%.
Makes me think about how I live my life. A meme going around now is Always Connected, in reference to always being online, in fact it being difficult to get away. Also makes me laugh - I've been suffering temporary dialup connection at home!! Only 15% of the world has some access, and I bet a much much smaller percentage orient their day to day activity around a computer as much as I do. Yes, orient is the right word. Work, study, facilitating personal interactions with friends overseas and social networks, AIESEC, news, and much more - all oriented at least in part around online access.
How different will it be for kids growing up now around the world. Some will live a life oriented around a massive source of information, where they won't need to remember facts as such, but more importantly where to find information efficiently and how to manipulate that information for their own ends, where most of their daily activities centre at least in part around being always connected to those around them and the assumption that anybody and any piece of information is at their fingertips wherever they are and whatever they're doing; whilst around the world most kids will grow up as now, perhaps with the reality of "where is the next meal is coming from?". How will these groups relate? Perhaps this is an added layer to old gap between rich and poor thing, where the gap is not just about material wealth, but more importantly online access, and the massive shift in learning orientation and development this leads to.
I'm just thinking as I write here (as I often do with this blog haha).... and my thought primarily leads in two directions. Something that I've been looking up lately is the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program run through AusAID. I'd like to participate, spend some time working in a development capacity overseas. I've had a look at the current assignments (intake 17 in the program's history), and there are some HR related jobs... thing is it looks like I'd need further qualifications so perhaps going straight out after graduation at the end of 2007 would be beyond me.
The other direction my thought leads is to the major internet companies such as yahoo and google, and their efforts to get things such as wi-fi networks up and running. Google earns more ad-generated revenue per user the faster the internet connection that user has - thus the obvious link to Google pushing broadband adoption at home in the US. They've even teamed up with Earthlink to provide (ad-supported) free wifi in San Francisco. With broadband people spend more time online and use a wider and more diverse array of products - which is good for their bottom line. With over 80% of the world's population still to come online, companies such as Google are poised for massive growth.
Makes me think about how I live my life. A meme going around now is Always Connected, in reference to always being online, in fact it being difficult to get away. Also makes me laugh - I've been suffering temporary dialup connection at home!! Only 15% of the world has some access, and I bet a much much smaller percentage orient their day to day activity around a computer as much as I do. Yes, orient is the right word. Work, study, facilitating personal interactions with friends overseas and social networks, AIESEC, news, and much more - all oriented at least in part around online access.
How different will it be for kids growing up now around the world. Some will live a life oriented around a massive source of information, where they won't need to remember facts as such, but more importantly where to find information efficiently and how to manipulate that information for their own ends, where most of their daily activities centre at least in part around being always connected to those around them and the assumption that anybody and any piece of information is at their fingertips wherever they are and whatever they're doing; whilst around the world most kids will grow up as now, perhaps with the reality of "where is the next meal is coming from?". How will these groups relate? Perhaps this is an added layer to old gap between rich and poor thing, where the gap is not just about material wealth, but more importantly online access, and the massive shift in learning orientation and development this leads to.
I'm just thinking as I write here (as I often do with this blog haha).... and my thought primarily leads in two directions. Something that I've been looking up lately is the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program run through AusAID. I'd like to participate, spend some time working in a development capacity overseas. I've had a look at the current assignments (intake 17 in the program's history), and there are some HR related jobs... thing is it looks like I'd need further qualifications so perhaps going straight out after graduation at the end of 2007 would be beyond me.
The other direction my thought leads is to the major internet companies such as yahoo and google, and their efforts to get things such as wi-fi networks up and running. Google earns more ad-generated revenue per user the faster the internet connection that user has - thus the obvious link to Google pushing broadband adoption at home in the US. They've even teamed up with Earthlink to provide (ad-supported) free wifi in San Francisco. With broadband people spend more time online and use a wider and more diverse array of products - which is good for their bottom line. With over 80% of the world's population still to come online, companies such as Google are poised for massive growth.
June 01, 2006
News
... I'm addicted to it. I read nearly all my news online. However, I've had to establish a habit of only reading at certain times of day, for instance for an hour in the morning or after a late class - otherwise I'd be reading news all day. I subscribe to a whole bunch of feeds which I check daily, as well as getting email updates from a slew of sites.
I read every article in the McKinsey Quarterly, Wired, the Economist, New Scientist, techmeme.com (and a plethora of tech blogs I access through it), Foreign Policy, NYTimes (esp the op-ed articles), Slashdot (only check 4+ comments), as well as nomadlife of course and all the blogs of people I know and some I don't but who are either hot or interesting :) Admittedly I don't check google news everyday any more - that used to be my premier procrastination destination. I get the latest articles from Nature and Forbes, but I don't often read them. For material directly related to HR and industrial relations (what I'm studying) I get stuff from AHRI and CCH, as well as from the ILO.
How on earth do I remember or process all that? Well that's a question I've grappled with, and I have been trying out different methods to retain/process/synthesize/learn. My current method involves using Google Notebook (FAQ), in particular a firefox extension for notebook. The extension isn't mentioned prominently in the FAQ but in my mind it's the key component in the product. Basically what I do is try to take away a few key things from each article (if I'm not learning anything from the article then I wouldn't be reading it). I then want to be able to review quickly whenever I want the accumulated key points from today or yesterday or last week. My habit now is to review each night the day's key stuff, in conjunction with a review of what I've studied for uni. Google Notebook facilitates this nicely as I can (using the firefox extension), highlight a piece of text and right click, then choose to Note this (using Google Notebook) - and it does including a link to the page it was noted from. I can then also type in whatever other notes I want to make. It's pretty easy and I've found it to be efficient enough for practical use. I use a different section heading for each day and then make notes underneath.
I realise that this is pretty geeky but I also realise that I'm not going to stop reading the news as I enjoy it, and it's my response to thinking at the end of the day "now what exactly did I read today... and what did I learn from it?".
I read every article in the McKinsey Quarterly, Wired, the Economist, New Scientist, techmeme.com (and a plethora of tech blogs I access through it), Foreign Policy, NYTimes (esp the op-ed articles), Slashdot (only check 4+ comments), as well as nomadlife of course and all the blogs of people I know and some I don't but who are either hot or interesting :) Admittedly I don't check google news everyday any more - that used to be my premier procrastination destination. I get the latest articles from Nature and Forbes, but I don't often read them. For material directly related to HR and industrial relations (what I'm studying) I get stuff from AHRI and CCH, as well as from the ILO.
How on earth do I remember or process all that? Well that's a question I've grappled with, and I have been trying out different methods to retain/process/synthesize/learn. My current method involves using Google Notebook (FAQ), in particular a firefox extension for notebook. The extension isn't mentioned prominently in the FAQ but in my mind it's the key component in the product. Basically what I do is try to take away a few key things from each article (if I'm not learning anything from the article then I wouldn't be reading it). I then want to be able to review quickly whenever I want the accumulated key points from today or yesterday or last week. My habit now is to review each night the day's key stuff, in conjunction with a review of what I've studied for uni. Google Notebook facilitates this nicely as I can (using the firefox extension), highlight a piece of text and right click, then choose to Note this (using Google Notebook) - and it does including a link to the page it was noted from. I can then also type in whatever other notes I want to make. It's pretty easy and I've found it to be efficient enough for practical use. I use a different section heading for each day and then make notes underneath.
I realise that this is pretty geeky but I also realise that I'm not going to stop reading the news as I enjoy it, and it's my response to thinking at the end of the day "now what exactly did I read today... and what did I learn from it?".
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