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December 31, 2005
The Digital Divide Confirmed
Another report has been released by the Pew Internet and American Life project, and while I enjoy these reports I guess my only statement on the last report, Digital Divisions, is that it's blindingly obvious.
Posted by jj at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
If you hadn't worked it out already, I rather enjoy cricket
JJ's rule of summer holiday television viewing:
There is always some cricket on Fox Sports being played somewhere.
And even if it's New Zealand versus Sri Lanka, it's still worth watching.
Posted by jj at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)
December 30, 2005
Au Revoir Melbourne
First of all I want to thank my Mum, Alison, for her patience and her hospitality in letting me stay for the last fortnight - I had a fantastic time in Melbourne this Christmas! I apologise to those with whom I did not make contact, but this Christmas I wanted to have an old fashioned family Christmas, with a home cooked meal for Christmas dinner and much rest and relaxation as part of my trip south. Mum provided all of that and more! So thanks Mum - very very appreciated! *many hugs and much love*
Thanks also to all those I did see down south - was great to see you all and to enjoy catching up. I treasure these opportunities to see you all!
And on an entirely selfish note, thank heavens for the QANTAS Club. Having full broadband wireless access from the Club as well as food, drink and comfortable lounges, Sky News and so on makes a split journey from Melbourne - Brisbane via Sydney so much more comfortable!!!
Posted by jj at 3:42 PM | Comments (1)
December 27, 2005
Report from the Antipodes
Am still here in balmy Melbourne where it's 32° at 8:30pm. The air is cool and the light is just fading... a quiet end to a quiet day. My partner has returned to sunny Brisbane so I'm already missing him, but I'll join him back home in a few days. In the meantime I still have people lined up to see and warm weather to enjoy.
I'm hoping to go to the cricket tomorrow and enjoy the splendor of the new MCC... Looks like the weather will be just fabulous for Day 3 of this Test. Fabulous stuff. All I have to do is pay my membership again!
I suppose I shouldn't close before mentioning the passing of Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, whose tempestuous, but extraordinarily successful career saw the establishment of first class One Day cricket in Australia with World Series Cricket, and whose empire stretched from magazines to broadcast media and even Microsoft. A gambler and high-school dropout, he was a remarkable businessman, (in)famous for his colourful language, and rather well liked for his tendency to tip high and donate large sums to charities that took his fancy. He was well known for swapping sides politically, and has donated to both Liberal and Labor Parties in Australia as he saw fit. In general, however, he seemed more aligned with the political right than the left, much like colleague and media rival, Rupert Murdoch. His personal fortune of more than A$5 billion, and his concerted efforts to minimise paying (or indeed not paying) tax tend to be at odds with the man-of-the-people image, and yet so he is regarded by his peers and his peons alike. Nevertheless, a remarkable man, and one whose passing will certainly be felt in the Australian media. Just quietly though, if I had shares in PBL, I reckon I'd be selling them about now.
Posted by jj at 7:23 PM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2005
A very happy and safe Christmas to you all
Wishing all my readers the very best this Christmas - be safe, be healthy and be happy. Enjoy your time either on your own or with friends and family - most of all, take the time to be at peace this Christmas. In this age of so much conflict, I hope you will find a moment, however short, of absolute serenity.
Finally, thanks to all of you who have commented on my blog this year and shown engagement, enthusiasm and compassion in your posts. Your comments are all most welcome, and very much appreciated.
Merry Christmas, one and all.
Posted by jj at 6:48 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2005
Christmas in Brisbane
From the Bureau of Meteorology.....
IDQ1009002
BRISBANE METROPOLITAN AREA
Fine. Light to moderate N to NE winds, fresh along the coast.
Brisbane for Friday ... MIN 22 MAX 36 (Tomorrow)
Bayside for Friday ... MIN 21 MAX 32
UV INDEX - 13 [Extreme]
Saturday ... Fine, hot. MIN 24 MAX 38 (That's Xmas Eve)
Sunday ... Mostly fine, hot. MIN 24 MAX 38 (Christmas Day)
Monday ... Mostly fine, hot. MIN 24 MAX 38 (And Boxing Day)
Hmm. Glad I'm in Melbourne really.
Posted by jj at 5:54 PM | Comments (1)
December 20, 2005
Public announcement
Melbourne is warm - YAY!!!!! :)
*flits around in a tank top in 32 degrees at 7:30pm in Melbourne*
Posted by jj at 6:34 PM | Comments (2)
December 19, 2005
Christmas shopping
.... Almost done. Just as well I prepare these things.
But for those of you looking for something to fill the stocking of your iPods, MP3 players and so on, you might want to download the following:
- Geoffrey Palmer reading Dickens's classic tale, A Christmas Carol
- Moira Gunn's interview with Simon Singh, author of Big Bang: The origin of the universe.
- TechTV hosts delivering the latest and greatest in technology with This Week in Tech
- Or any of the other fresh audio blogs out there.
You're welcome.
Posted by jj at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2005
Addendum - For Sale!
I should add quickly a link to the private sale of an apartment in Melbourne. This is a great place. I only wish I could afford to buy it!!!!
Posted by jj at 7:16 PM | Comments (3)
Link fest!
As I presently find myself with some "free" time (I'm not exactly free, but not exactly occupied... my students will understand what I'm doing!) I have a chance to deliver a veritable festival of links.
- First and foremost I must mention the Sydney riots. Clearly they are significant as an article from James Jupp in The Australian made it to the top of the Blogdex overnight. My own response has been one of disgust for both perpetrators and the vigilante response. Every now and then, members of the extreme right wing minority in Australia raise their ugly heads and call for a kind of nationalism that is nothing short of racist. I despair of the progress of a society that is still so backward. If race, cultural practices, religion, or sex are still forming a basis for discrimination, then society is simply barbarous. And don't give me that crap about poor behaviour at the beach. If people are misbehaving, there is always the option of calling the police in the short term, and writing to Council to recommend beach monitoring in the longer term. It's just illegal to cause a public nuisance so proper procedures should always be followed. This is just an excuse to marginalise a section of society. I'm sure there are bad eggs on both sides, but it's for the police and courts to sort that out, not a vigilante movement. It's enough to make me sick. Although I was rather interested in how right David Flint got it when he said the blame for this racially-motivated conflict should be placed very firmly on talkback radio.
- On a more positive note, I'm glad to see that we are back on good trade terms with Malaysia after the departure of Mahatir. Malaysia is a robust and interesting economy with which Australia could have strong business ties. Let's hope the relationship goes beyond rhetoric.
- On a rather bizarre note, I was surprised how much my blog is actually worth. Apparently I could get about US$6,209.94 for it. Nice little earner. But here again, it's not exactly a fortune either. You all need to link to me more for that ;-)
- I just love the idea of mining energy from lightning. Now there's a business that Queenslanders would do well to consider. Given that a strong proportion of our current "wet season" consists of evening storms, with heaps of lightning, this has got to be a great business prospect! Okay the technique of capturing energy has not been perfected... details, details!
- And there's something creepily Matrix-esque in the idea of getting spider-like machines to build solar satellites, but it's rather cool, all the same!
- For all those cynics who think Wikipedia is unreliable, a Nature Magazine study has found the community-driven encyclopedia is remarkably accurate on science related entries. Okay it's still not sufficient as a resource to be cited in scholarly works as "accurate", but as a launchpad for discovery on a topic - any topic - Wikipedia can be a fabulous starting point in research. Students please note: you DO need to find alternative materials to back up any data found in Wikipedia.
- And finally, Engadget is reporting on the first iPod based tool which permits payment. Cool. I do like the idea of a retail clerk asking, "Will that be cash, credit or iPod?".
A definitive link fest! And of course, my IT-geek readers out there should all visit ITConversations on a regular basis just to keep up with the world of technology!
Posted by jj at 6:23 PM | Comments (1)
December 11, 2005
*blush*
I received one of the oddest, funniest, and yet most charming compliments ever, last night. At a birthday party for the wife of my good friend Rob, I was sitting beside my partner and we were on the first sip of our first cocktail, when Rob said, "So if it's true that all men are attracted to their mothers, then [[Name of my partner deleted to protect the innocent]], your Mum must be really hot".
:) Superb, Rob. And thank you :)
Posted by jj at 11:26 AM | Comments (1)
December 7, 2005
Broadband Growth and other links
There's been some interesting reading/links around lately. Thanks to Hamish, Pete and others for the following little pearls....
- Residential broadband adoption in Australia grew 108% over the period of June 2004 to June 2005.
- Google now have a very clear plan for maximising the productivity of knowledge workers. The most interesting aspect of the Top Ten Golden Rules that Eric Schmidt and Hal Varian released to Newsweek this week is the idea of hiring by committee; not only does this produce better quality workers, but it much more clearly articulates precisely what it is that new staff will do in a company - an aspect of corporate communications which I find problematic in so many organisations.
- A new simulation tool for the web, produced by Forio Brothers, looks like it might be handy way of communicating to Board members of medium to large organisations about contingency planning for products and scenario development.
- Registration for the O'Reilly Tech Conference is open, and boy would I love to go. I doubt I'm going to be able to convince ACID to fund this trip but it would be a SENSATIONAL conference to attend. *sighs* *wants* Anyone want to sponsor me for this?
- And on a lighter note (pardon the pun), anyone who hasn't seen the example of Xmas Lights From Hell, you must see it. It is impressive, but I pity the poor people who end up living next door or over the road! You WILL need speakers or headphones to appreciate it, though. And for the doubters among you, this is real.
Posted by jj at 10:57 AM | Comments (1)
Oops
Thanks to Kerry for pointing out a rather unfortunate typo in an email I sent to her this morning, and providing a rather huge belly-laugh at work. I love Freudian slips.
Also thanks to people who have contacted me lately and I haven't got back to you yet - it's on the agenda for today, I promise. I've been flat out in meetings the last couple of days. Last night I crashed at about 8pm after not sleeping well the previous several nights... this seems to happen every now and then when my body just decides it's tired enough to just shut down. So I'm sorry if I've missed calls/emails/messages the last few days - I will get to them soon.
Thanks all.
Posted by jj at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)
December 2, 2005
Van Nguyen
It is perhaps unsurprising to my readers that I am horrified and disgusted by the legal murder of Van Nguyen in Singapore this morning. Almost 20 years after the execution of Barlow and Chambers in Malaysia, the death of Van Nguyen is perhaps even more repulsive to the Australian public. It is, after all, 38 years since Australia has rejected capital punishment for crimes committed. The last man to hang in Australia, Ronald Ryan, was possibly innocent of the murder of a prison warden, and this is perhaps partly why as a people we are horrified by our own history, in legally killing prisoners. And hanging, from every description of capital pubishment is a gruesome way to die. It's likely that Nguyen will be alive for at least 8 minutes after he hangs.
Gandhi said, 'an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind'. Singapore is blind to the injustice of Nguyen's death. It's our place now to do what we can to open the world's eyes to the horror and inhumanity of capital punishment. I beg you to do what you can now to ensure Nguyen's death is not in vain; let us collectively strive to eradicate the scourge of capital punishment.
Posted by jj at 6:24 AM | Comments (5)