Is it wrong that I've never really had a house of my dreams?
March 2007 Archives
I so need one (or more) of these: The ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron.
Although come to think of it, a certain friend of mine who never changes the battery on his smoke detector (in spite of the fact that it's been beeping at him for nearly a year) has managed to get so used to his own brand of annoy-a-tron that I suspect their effectiveness wears off after a while!
Sensational win for Australia against South Africa in the World Cup. Glad Smith got that penalty 5 runs for tonking the helmet, but also extremely glad that Haydn caps his one day career with the fastest century in the history of the Cup.
A long wait till the next Australian match (and longer still till the next challenge of a match) but hopefully between now and then, we'll all have more information about the murder of Pakistan coach, Bob Woolmer, now thought to be motivated by Woolmer's intention to name match-fixers. Either way, the reputation of cricket has now been besmirched forever.
As my knee has been a distinctly uncomfortable mess since Monday (and I had to spend last night with my knee elevated and iced in order to get to sleep) I have decided to instead exercise my mind, which has generally been less than impressive with remembering names and dates of late.
So I've decided to post my favourite mental workouts here in case this of use to others who wish to maximise their brain power. Enjoy and enhance!
- Mensa workout: http://www.mensa.org/index0.php?page=12
- Mensa puzzles: http://www.mensa.org.uk/puzzles/
- Simple maths puzzles: http://www.qbyte.org/puzzles/
- Interactive word plays: http://www.wordplays.com/p/index
- History trivia quiz: http://www.puzz.com/historytriviaquiz.html
- Geography trivia quiz: http://www.puzz.com/geographytriviaquiz.html
- Some entertaining reading: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
- And finally this is why you should exercise the brain: http://www.fi.edu/brain/exercise.htm
So much for my new exercise regime. After a one hour walk yesterday I have woken this morning with a stuffed knee.
This is to let my dear friend know that I'm thinking of him today. It's not going to be a great birthday for him as he lost his Dad last night.
I'm sending my sympathies and wishes for good memories, sweetheart.
Oh please, for those of you who haven't seen it, see it. Redefining the word "quirky", it is truly gorgeous - a little masterpiece. Five stars.
I have a deep, dark secret. I like administration. I'm good at it. And when I speak about administration, I'm not talking secretarial duties. I'm talking business administration and the preparation of policy documents, business reports, executive administration and following up on tasks and even archiving.
However, after 4 hours of administration today I must say I'm heartily looking forward to a few hours of productive work. My 3pm meeting just got cancelled so I have the rest of the day to get about 16 hours of work done - probably crammed into about 9 hours. It's going to be a long day.
Nevertheless, as a business owner, it is encumbent upon me to scan for good advice and new tips and tidbits. The following links represent today's brief scan....
1. BestRealIncome has a primer on the SMART system of running a business. This isn't remotely new, but it's amazing how few business owners actually know the routine.
2. The blog entry in Wikipedia (including a link to Uses of Blogs) just got a whole lot bigger.
3. According to the Washington Post, the US Patents Office is going to open up patents for online review. This seems an unusually transparent but also possibly short-lived policy change, as I'm sure some opportunisitic entrepreneurs will try to take advantage of not-yet-patented devices for adaptation to their own interests.
4. This isn't really a scan-based link, but in light of an interview I'm doing later today for the Derryn Hinch radio program on 3AW in Melbourne, I've been doing some research on the ethics of selling goods on eBay. This is the introudtcion to the eBay Code of Ethics (yes it does exist). The question remains as to whether the assumptions in the Code are still relevant now that the vast majority of the community have worked out that without an editor overseeing the vast, global trading post, you can sell some pretty horrible things online. In January, 24 year old Wollongong student, Nic Holt sold "his life" on eBay, and whilst the items on offer (including his former girlfriend) raised some complaints, the items still sold. In February, notorious Melbourne criminal, Mark 'Chopper' Read offered a 4 hour lunch with himself, involving a limousine pickup service. The item did, indeed, sell - and for a hefty A$1225. Now brother of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, Rhett (the rat), has sold a fax Michael once sent to Kylie Minogue for $400. The question naturally arises... do these people have a right to sell these 'goods'? Is it ethically sound for people to capitalise on their notoriety, or that of the goods they offer? How different is it to sell goods on eBay when compared with selling a story to the press (usually for 'an undisclosed sum')? If eBay respond (as they appear to do) to complaints about goods available for sale, and determine the legitimacy of the item(s), then how differently are they responding when compared with a traditional auction house?
You know I love my friends, dearly. I feel privileged to have them in my life. I hope I take as many opportunities as possible to let them know how much I love them, and how much I appreciate everything they do for me. Perhaps it's never enough, but I would NEVER resort to a chain email as a means of expressing my affection, and the very idea of sending something around which threatens bad luck if you don't send on to ten of your friends is downright insulting. Besides all that, the act itself is a form of social engineering and I would hope that human kind and certainly my friends would be smarter and stronger than to bend to the callous and stupid whims of a few small people who just want to see how far their email virus has spread. Because that's what it is folks: a virus; a self-replicating worm (Write Once, Read Many) that spreads around the internet and takes over bandwidth and resources as easily as a program, especially designed to do the same job. It may not be a terribly damaging worm, but it's a worm, nonetheless.
A long time ago I made it very clear on this blog and elsewhere that if anyone ever sends me such a chain email, not only will I insult you by letting you know what a drone you are, but I will insult everyone else on your email list to whom you have sent that initial chain email.
Be warned. Again.
