November 2006 Archives

Damn that fried rice from last night. Damn it all to hell.

*unhappy shiver*
I'll be back when my intestines no longer want to reach through my stomach and strangle me.

Blergh.

How to irritate your family when bored with the conversation over Christmas: watch YouTube videos on your mobile phone!

It might be irritating to others but portable video is pervasive, and in a follow up to yesterday's link/story on YouTube eroding television viewing, here's the techcrunch response telling us to just get over television and move on.

I've long been citing Rushkoff who said that it's not content that's king, but contact. There's now a useful presentation which suggests that aggregation and context might be king rather than content. Either way, YouTube delivered to your portable internet device or your desktop pc is compelling because it combines the delight of frontier media, peer review and subject choice with the content itself. Call it context or consider it a basis for contact, it's still true that content alone is insufficient to attract us anymore. And as portable media display devices become cheaper to adopt, and telecommunications packages for next gen internet connectivity become more affordable, the dominance of ad hoc video sources such as YouTube over traditional media is only set to grow.

It is with much shame that I notice it has been ages since I recorded anything particularly oriented towards my research and interests in this blog (besides cricket - GO AUSSIES!!! - and the Daylight Saving petition). In an attempt to rectify this failing, I offer today's link fest:

- The BBC is reporting that online video through vehicles such as YouTube is eroding television viewing. (Yes I know I said this a while ago, but it's nice to have the media back me up at last!)
- The Google Checkout system may be the new way of buying online but the effort you have to go through to complete a transaction may well require some interaction design tweaking.
- The folk over at Creating Passionate Users have a rather useful discussion on Web 2.0 that goes some way to describing why Web 2.0 is more than a buzzword. An amusing alternative is the ZdNet article on whether Web 2.0 is in fact, Darth Vader.
- If you haven't already seen the Google Master Plan in all its Ros-Kelly-Whiteboard-Glory, then have a look here.
- There's a nice new program designed to bypass Government Censorship initiatives. I'm wondering how this can be used in the office as I type!
- I enjoyed reading the SeekingAlpha story on the 10 Best Internet Acquisitions ever.
- And I'm sure the folk associated with QUT's Brisbane Graduate School of Business will find the first of three essays on American Entrepreneurialism a provocative read!

Enjoy the linkfest!

In the extended entry I have an early draft of an editorial opinion on Daylight Saving I plan to send to the papers after an edit in the next week or so. All comments gratefully received.

As Australia return from Tea on Day 3 of the First Test, currently 478 in the lead in their 2nd innings at the Gabba, here are a couple of pics of my day at the Gabba on Day 1.

Odds are on that Australia are going to win, I'd reckon ;-)

Those poor, genetically impoverished English. What a shame they have been so throughly trounced by our superior Australian might!

EDIT: if you are after a laugh in your general cricket enjoyment, have a read of the written commentary as it goes live to the internet at CricInfo. Choose the Live Scorecard and read the comments between balls :)

Tomorrow. Day 1. First Test for the Ashes. Me going.

Rendered inarticulate with joy. Happy JJ!!!!

(Yes, every now and then my uber-geek self cross-dresses as a cricket tragic. There are those who love me anyway.)

Thanks to Charles Wooley for the chance to speak on his program today on the ongoing campaign for Daylight Saving in the SEQ region. It's great to have the support of so many across Australia on this important cause!

Just a quick note to record the fact that we've cracked the 10,000 signatures mark on the petition for Daylight Saving in South Eastern Queensland.

I'm now trying to organise a rally and meeting between South Eastern Queensland Lords Mayor and the Premier to discuss the implementation process for DLS, and I'm suggesting this occurs in March 2007. Any assistance in lobbying Mayors to participate in such an event will be gratefully received!

So it's time I entered a serious post, and I can think of no better subject than that of the prospective nuclear energy report tabled by former Telstra boss, Ziggy Switkowski, today. The federal Opposition are already declaring their intention to oppose the establishment of nuclear energy plant development, but have also flagged their intention to support extended uranium mining.

I'm of the opinion that nuclear power in Australia is probably wasteful, let alone dangerous. This isn't a region that needs nuclear power when we have so many other opportunities for generating power in this country that we do not exploit. We may be one of the few developed countries that does not draw some of its electricity from nuclear power, but we also have more opportunities for supporting development of alternative energy sources - solar and wind - than many other developed nations. And nuclear power just isn't as cheap as everyone thinks it is. As the Opposition notes, from a purely economic perspective (including the insurance risk associated with augmenting our nuclear energy practices), nuclear power just isn't worth it.

However, I'm unsure of whether increased uranium mining is a good idea, either. Sure, it will increase jobs and income to the GDP, but will it be in the interests of Australia to increase dramatically the possibility of increased exposure to ionising radiation as a result of mining and transporting uranium, as well as the possibility of increased nuclear waste production? I suspect the economic arguments against nuclear power are probably emulated in terms of risks and payoffs of uranium mining (unless we massively increase the price of uranium for overseas buyers). I hate to take such an emotional issue down to the level of mere economics, but there's no point arguing against nuclear power and for uranium mining. The risks are there for mining as well as converting radioactive elements into electricity. And the costs of increased production of uranium mining are worth considering as well.

Take away the emotion, the danger and the jobs from the argument, and the result is still the same: the safest and most under-used energy sources in Australia are still solar and wind. I know they produce less power and require more effort over time, but we can use these sources, and in a period where carbon emissions on a global scale are so high, shouldn't we be doing everything we can to maximise the natural energy sources we have available to us?

Spot the difference....

Recently I've been bombarded with emails on the Daylight Saving petition so I'm sorry if I have not got back to everyone - I'm doing my best to stay up-to-date. However, in the spirit of some catching up, I'd like to share a few pieces of research that have been kindly donated by members of my readership.

Firstly is a simple spreadhseet looking at the differences in normal activities over the height of summer with standard versus Daylight Saving time. As noted elsewhere, the differences are quite useful to observe, as the logic of daylight saving under this simple comparison is clearly observable.

Secondly is an article from the Sunday Mail about Labor MPs who support DLS, kindly sent by our Volunteer Petitioner, Nick Lloyd. And a quick thanks to Nick for all his messages and suggestions - you're fabulous Nick! I agree we do need to get SEQ Lord Mayors to visit the Premier en masse to discuss this issue. I think pehaps we ought to consider a special general meeting in Brisbane in early 2007 to really thrash out the issue of 6 months on; 6 months off DLS, and borders for time zone differences. I'm happy to organise something along those lines for February 2007.

Thirdly, there's an extensive argument prepared by Allan Clarke of the Sunshine Coast for two time zones in Queensland. Allan's argument is clear and concise and I recommend it to all interested parties. It emphasises the logic of multiple timezones in a state the size of Queensland. As I have noted to several people who have asked about timezones elsewhere in the world during this campaign, we only have effectively four time zones across Australia, where over the same geographical land space there are more than six time zones across the US (eight in total, including Hawaii and Alaska) and five across Europe. Even so, I am not suggesting that we increase the number of time zones across Australia, but rather segregate those time zones in accordance with business, leisure and geographical characteristics. Allan's argument concludes that multiple time zones across Queensland does make sense, is practical and can and should be pursued. Bravo, Allan!

Have just returned from a weekend on a motor cruiser in a contingent from the Rotary Club of Fortitude Valley where much sun, sea and good times were enjoyed. We began on North Stradbroke Island at One Mile and headed around Horseshoe Bay, finally dropping anchor off Russell Island on Saturday night before heading back up to Newport on Sunday, against a rather rough North-Easterly wind. My friend, Rob, suffered a little seas sickness, so I'm glad again to apparently have the right constitution for sea travel, finding the rough seas rather more lulling than sickening, and finding a rolling and pitching 3 hour cruise to be a useful tonic for a long and loud night of wining, dining and carousing from Saturday night.

Of course, today, after very little sleep all weekend, I'm rather less than my bright and shiny self, but I'm sure I shall regain my panache after a while back at my pc. So happy Monday to you all and to all a good week!

Yes I'm 28 again. Or something. Yay me.

I shall spend my birthday watching documentaries and science fiction. And it shall be good.