Looking for next victim?

I guess it had to happen. Everyone’s realised that finance is a big gamble. Who's going to be the next Alitalia?

Paddy Power have started advertising their betting service as a kind of insurance against your holiday being ruined by an airline going bust.

I came across this ad while browsing the Guardian travel supplement online while waiting to board my plane in Canberra.

More than half of me hates it. Less than half of me thinks it’s clever.

Paralympian DOPED

Damn, Paralympian also need to resort to Performance Enhancement Drugs.!

Ahmet Coskun, a German wheelchair basketball player, was tested positive for a banned substance. He's the second athlete to test positive in the Paralympics in Beijing. Coskun says he was just using the product to grow hair (what hair?).

and by the way, Steroids do cause hair to grow...on your back, face and arms

Ramsay Gets Fucked!

Jeez, is there nothing that can’t be turned into a video game these days - now Gordon Ramsay gets the video game makeover.

Chef Ramsay watches players’ every move and judges them as they progress by yelling at them, praising them or shutting down the kitchen if their skills don’t meet his expectations.

As players progress, they’ll gain access to authentic Gordon Ramsay recipes, including many that are offered exclusively to game owners.

Can't wait to get my hands on a new set of Wii to replace my ol' Xbox.

yet another act of GREEN WASHING...

Driving around in cardboard cars, catching litterbugs in the act and splashing removable green paint on those who harm the environment...

the EnvironMENTALS, a trio of environment guardians have been spotted in town doing the above acts as part of a GLOBAL company in photographic and digital solutions commitment towards a better environment .

the global brand has even pledged to plant 2,500 trees on a city suburban field and urged the public to take part in the programme..yes.!!!by submitting photos (using the company's products?) to the designated website..

KUDOS for instilling greater awareness on the need to safeguard the environment but a smart CSR campaign? more like an act of green washing...

street fighter 2

one of my lovely mate, a computer scientist was talking to me about beating up a car in Street Fighter 2. And I was sort of like: “what?”. And he was like: “when you see it you’ll totally remember”. And he sent it to me. And I was like: “totally!”.

It’s amazing how that bit had temporarily slipped my mind until I saw it again. Kung-fu-ing cars - it doesn’t get much better than that.

Chaos on My Desk...

I got in this morning and the cleaners had spilled some coffee/glue hybrid on my desk. It had gone all the way under a box file that I use to keep all my USB gadgets out of the way:

It was very firmly stuck fast. Then I had to clean up. Which wasn’t easy. Sugary coffee forms a very very sticky substance indeed.

After a bit of tidying and re-arranging I now have the prefect working environment

The Dark Knight

Just came back from the Dark Knight (FINALLY). I thought it was really good and you should go and see it. Don’t want to throw out any spoilers (even tho most of you must have watched it), so all I can say is it that I think almost everything is rubbish, so this must make it a good film. It definitely shouldn’t be a 12A though. A 15 would be more sensible. I’m 28 and it was a bit much for me at times, pity the young kid (barely 10). i'm sure he'll have nightmare tonight...

my favourite pastime...

I spend so much of my time reading random things on the internet. Sometimes I stumble on interesting random facts, for example:

• There is a piano on the top of Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain, put there by some dundonian removal men in the 1980s.
  
• The world’s first real intercity, passenger-carrying rail service was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It used Stephenson’s Rocket as its locomotive and on its opening day in 1830 a Member of Parliament managed to get himself run over and killed by one of the trains.

i have a dream...

Or I should say, I had a dream, last night. I don’t remember what it was about, but it was significant for one reason. Last night, Danny Devito was in my dreams.

I don’t know why he was in my dream. I can’t remember what he was doing in my dream. But he was definitely in my dream. He was most likely playing a quirky cameo role in an offbeat dream I was having though…

Anyway, the question to you my friends is, who was in your dreams last night? Let's throw in a carrot, best answer wins a biscuit.

wordle...

This is pretty cool, a wee app that let’s you visually look at the occurence of words in documents, or in web pages. Stuck my blog in first, not sure how far back it manages to look, think it maybe just looks at all the posts on the first page

Following your dreams...

I just finished reading a lovely book, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I wouldn't want to ruin it for you, but the general story is about a shepherd who is happy, but gives up his sheep to pursue his dream of finding a treasure at the Pyramids. He travels far and learns much and eventually realizes that the journey is just as important as the treasure.

I think there are many lessons in this book. As a graduate student, I am focus mostly on my treasure, a Ph.D. Sometimes my goal seemed unattainable and other times tantalizingly close. But i am sure by the end of my Ph.D., I will realize that it is not about getting my thesis to work, it is about the process. Learning how to diagnosis a problem, to research it, and to develop and test solutions. Really all of research is like that. Maybe we start out wanting to understand one thing and along the way another interesting question or finding appears. Do we follow the first direction or the second?

A second lesson from this book is that you should pursue your dreams no matter what and listen to your heart. I started out in industry and didn't like it. I knew that I wanted something else so I return to school and do a PhD. It would have been easy to stay where I was. I don't really make that much more money here than I did in industry with only a BA! and all that time and energy could have been spent elsewhere, but it was what I wanted, so I pursued it.

I think it is really important to listen to your heart and follow it. Probably more important than anything else. Did i just finished reading a non-academic book? damn..better get back to the drawing board & start writing a few lines ;)

everything's gonna be alright...

Strange. Past two months, I've almost been enjoying school. I have no paper deadlines; I don't have to make a mountain out of my teeny result-molehill. I see my supervisor once every fortnight; his crazy-talk bounces off my brain like cartoon bullets. I'm diligently working on my two projects, making progress on implementation and measuring results.

I saw a female faculty in the hallway the other day. Last time I spoke with her, I was in poor shape. She'd given me some advice on the candidature confirmation, finishing the degree, and getting a job. She asked, "How is the confirmation going?" I said, "All done." She said, "Wow! Do you plan on graduating this summer?" I said, "No way jose!"

This is how I thought graduate school was supposed to be. I'm working independently on stuff I enjoy. I'm learning new things. I see a clear end. I know what I need to do to get out. Instead, the first few semesters were torture; I got through them with rage, depression, therapy, and tenacity. The last 2 look like they'll be decent.

I've quoted her before, but she's worth repeating. From Annie Proulx's "The Bunchgrass Edge of the World,"

The main thing in life was staying power. That was it: stand around long enough, you'd get to sit down.

One question: What do I call this blog once I graduate?

good research...

While doing other things I’m in the middle of post-AOIR thinking on research methodologies, ethics and researcher’s responsibilities. I have to do all those other things, but I’m pretty sure that this thinking will surface in writing, sooner or later.

But so far just a quote from Annette Markham (Ethics as method: A case for reflexivity (.pdf)):

• Good qualitative research, online or off,
• is not difficult to find or access,
• it is difficult to formalize.

Good research, online or off, is hard work.
Good research comes from the heart.

Conference anxiety...

I am starting to plan (or not plan) for this year-end conference season, and am filled with anxiety. Mainly, I have research envy. There is a 2-day session at this one conference that has every big-wig and player in my subfield, and I am jealous that I may not make that list. Of course, I am a second-year junior faculty with no data and an empty lab, so I have nothing much to present anyway, but I am still jealous. Totally rational, yes? Also, I read the abstracts and feel alarm because some people are doing research that I want to be doing!

KEEP.WRITE.THESIS.MUST.FINISH.PHD

I’m at work on a Sunday, I need to get my PhD finished. I’ve decided to stick updates on here so you guys can nag me to keep going, cos motivation is very, very, very, very, very, very, very hard to keep up.

Ok so don’t expect regular updates, cos I’m still working to produce results as well as writing up, so the writing will probably be kind of irregular. I have the whole chapter structure mapped out, and I’m sticking it down here more for myself than anything else, so I can tick things off as I go, and I figure if I do it in public it’ll maybe help me get going. This’ll be shorthand so just ignore it, but i’ll tick things off as i go.

1. Intro
2. Literature- half done - aim to finish by end february
3. Conceptual Framework - mapped out/structured easyish to write
4. Data collection - infancy
5. Frequency offset estimation algorithms and implementation
6. Node implementation - NCO parameterised/performance curves trade-offs… - work done by mid march maybe, written up by end (optimistic)
7. Possible intra-net comms extension
8. Conclusions.

Maybe I’ll try for weekly updates / goals. Before I leave today I’m going to have ch.2 properly mapped out, maybe a bit of writing done. Conference Paper to write/finish before wednesday, should be ok, work for it will go into ch.6 so that’s cool.

I’m going to look back on this post one day as Dr Tang, oh yes I will.
Oh, and people who are particularly helpful / motivational may be lucky enough to get a mention in my acknowledgements.

LONG TAIL cut short?

A new study by a marketing professor at Harvard Business School casts doubt on one of the sacred texts of new media - Chris Anderson's 'The Long Tail'.

Anita Elberse looked at data for online purchases of music and video rentals and then compared the data with offline purchase data. In spite of the vast back catalogue of options available online, it seems that online consumers are pretty much like their offline equivalent. Purchases hugely favour a few 'hit' titles - and if anything people online are more likely to focus their spending on popular choices than offline shoppers.

It seems that what we really value is not choice, but the social aspects of consuming the same media as everyone else.

Can't say I'm sorry to see the back of this particular theory - it seemed to me that the same two businesses were always trotted out in support of it (eBay and Amazon) which didn't seem to me to be a conclusive sample.

On the other hand, if the Long Tail is a lie, the online world is a somewhat bleaker place where almost all the micro-publishers, bloggers, video artists and musicians are doomed to a life of obscurity - including your truly...

Beijing bound...

was strolling down Surfers Paradise earlier and bumped into the Australian Olympics Basketball Team having a promotional event in one gaming shop.

NBA star, Andrew Bogut (he plays for Milwaukee Bucks), was part of the entourage.

that's AB (highlighted)

the Aussie swimming team are currently training at my workplace's pool before flying out to KL for acclimatisation before the real thing in Panda-land.

Goodluck folks...

blogging 101...

Life in the blogosphere. I’m still trying to learn the basics of ‘how to blog’ but I think its something I can see myself getting into. I guess this personal weblog will serve as a place I can go to post (hopefully) intelligent ideas, comment on current events, or write about random thoughts. I do read and consider myself pretty well-rounded but my best asset is the fact that I have talented friends whom I regularly draw advice and provocative insights from on a variety of things.

One of my friend (you know who you are)suggested to me that I should start my own weblog, and obviously I decided to take up on the idea.

I guess that should be sufficient for breaking my blogging cherry. More to come later.

Trendspotter...

I attended a corporate debate recently about the importance of generating innovative ideas to stay competitive in the new economy. One of the speaker mentioned the Innovation Challenge and argued that transcending traditional business practices by relying on creativity was most important for spawning originality.

I began thinking about how companies obsess over research and development to ensure their next line of products are innovative. Firms use their best insights to predict what their future customers will demand in the marketplace (Apple predicted that there would be an insatiable demand for digital music players and gave us the iPod).
The common denominator in many innovations is identifying an emerging trend and developing a product/service which will cater to the next big thing. The problem, however, is how do we position ourselves at the right place at the right time to identify these trends before they become too widespread to take advantage of them? One article on trendspotting offers a few suggestions:

• Be curious and obsess about everything.
• Ask yourself why new things are happening and leave no answers unquestioned.
• Look for patterns. What are the links between new ideas, attitudes, and behaviors?
• Seek ideas from other industries and apply them to your own.
• Watch out for counter-trends and their opportunities and challenges.
• Remember that the biggest trends are always a confluence of smaller trends. Dont miss the macro because you’re concentrating on the micro.
• Keep it simple. Start out with what’s individually true and then look for the universal.
• Don’t confuse short-lived fads with major trends.
• Use the history of products and markets as a guide to their future.

These suggestions will hopefully lead us to be more cognizant about the world around us and allow us to identify emerging trends. Generation Y increasingly gets their news, current events, and other information from non-traditional media such as blogs. How will businesses be able to take advantage of this new trend as well as any other emerging trends in the future?

Is he or isn't he joining?

According to the player's agent, Manchester United wants to sign Dimitar Berbatov this summer, just like it was reported back in 2006 before he moved to Spurs. So after two relatively successful seasons playing for the North London club, it seems that the Red Devils have rekindled their interest in the Bulgarian.

While there's question marks about the Bulgarian's choice of clubs, there's even more questions about his suitability to lead United's attack. Many observers say that he's more than a bit lazy, added to which there's been suggestions that he's prone to sulking - nothing particularly unique where footballers are concerned (remember Nic Anelka?).

When comparing United's existing strikers, Berbatov probably has more presence given his stature and he's certainly much more composed than Saha, for whom the exit door will surely beckon once the Bulgarian put pen to papers.

Reports claim that United may well have agreed up to £24m for Dimitar Berbatov, who Spurs signed for just £10m. It was reported that it's a take it or leave it offer. Let's hope that is so because there's no justification for paying silly money for a striker who is seemingly only wanted by the Red Devils - there are no other serious bidders. United may well have been alerted to the news that Samuel Eto'o is reportedly available for just £15m. Like Berbatov, Eto'o comes with a certain amount of baggage, but for just £15m could Fergie be tempted?....

Steve Nash (NBA MVP) wears garbage...

Well…not garbage per say, but pretty close. He is debuting the Nike Trash Talk, the first performance basketball shoe made from manufacturing waste.. Gotta love this. Yes Nike, you are socially responsible (for once minus your sweatshops). You get brownie points:“Any opportunity to promote the environment and preserve our planet is a step in the right direction,” Nash said. “I’m very excited to be one of the first athletes to wear the Nike Trash Talk. I think people will love the shoe, and hopefully by wearing it I can inspire others to try it out as well.”

The Nike Trash Talk meets Nike’s Considered design standards because…The upper is pieced together from leather and synthetic leather waste from the factory floor using zig-zag stitching.The mid-sole uses scrap-ground foam from factory productionThe outsole uses environmentally-preferred rubber that reduces toxics and incorporates Nike Grind* material from footwear outsole manufacturing waste.The Phoenix Suns’ colorways will have shoe laces and sockliners which use environmentally-preferred materials and will be packaged in a fully recycled cardboard shoe box.

Nike is releasing a limited number of the Nike Trash Talk in three different colorways – two Phoenix Suns colorways (home and away) and one colorway for Nash to wear this week for the All-Star Game. The All-Star colorway will be sold at the House of Hoops by Foot Locker in New York and in New Orleans this week with a suggested retail price of $100.

P/S: the author did not receive any fee (or a free pair of nike grind) for this post.

Pringles Crisp? nah mate..it's Pringles Cake

They may crunch like a crisp and taste like a crisp, but Pringles are now officially closer to a cake than a potato snack. In the UK, judges have ruled that Pringles could soon be VAT free after P&G managed to convince law-lords that their addictive crack-snacks are actually cakes.

The law is an ass.

Greening up the dirty business of advertising...

Advertising. It’s everywhere. It’s wasteful. It encourages overconsumption. It’s a menace to society. It sure makes a convenient scapegoat for many of society’s ills, doesn’t it? Well what if I were to tell you that there is now an eco friendly mode of advertising out there, that leaves the environment cleaner than before it was there?

Yes. It exists. GreenGraffitti, a service of Netherlands based graphic design/marketing firm Hemshaven, creates ads using three ingredients: Dirty, high foot traffic urban sidewalks, a stencil, and a high pressure water sprayer. Apply stencil to sidewalk, spray water, remove stencil, and you have a visually compelling, totally non polluting, long lasting (up to 6 months they claim) ad.

GreenGrafitti say it’s, “completely carbon neutral and contributes in a unique way to a healthier environment.” But the question comes to my mind, yes they’re not using paper, ink, PVC, etc, but what about all that water that’s used? They compensate for that using carbon offsets from Groenbalans The GreenGraffitti site says they offset, “From our water use to the kilometers we travel.” Really? Carbon offsets covering water usage I’ve not heard of.

However, moving beyond this one point, GreenGraffitti uses green web host Thinkhost, donate 5% of their profits to local organizations, and encourage clients to have them come back a few weeks later to completely clean the sidewalk where their ads have been placed.

Due to the simplicity of execution and ubiquity of the equipment needed, GreenGraffitti is available throughout Europe and even in the US but then again What message do you want to spread?

United's new away kit...

I am getting so busy these days that i have just managed to get a peek to United’s new kit. Just last week i was thinking of buying United’s tees and damn here’s the new one. The last kit i got was 3 season ago? (and that was also a free piece courtesy of Nissan Malaysia :-D).

Anyway Check out the new Shirts.Quite energetic and fresh.This will take me another few months before i get my hands on these ones.

Cleverest calender ever...!

I love ideas like this: bubble-wrap calendars. You pop each day when it's done. A company from Brooklyn sells them for $50--$50 for bubble wrap! I love the margins (profit) as much as the idea.

C Ron & Fletcher...sell or retain?

The funniest story I've heard of recently relates to the comedy store over at Eastlands and the ongoing saga of City's owner Thaksin "Frank" Shinawattra and "PastryGate" as the case has become known. Apparently three of Frank's lawyers have been sent to jail for trying to bribe three high court judges over the City owner's impending trial, the judges were given a cake-tin stuffed with £30,000 and told to "enjoy the contents"...

I mean how stupid can one be? Who would be daft enough to bribe three judges especially in such a cack-handed manner - and these lawyers were representing the City owner. You really could not make it up could you? No wonder John Wardle has resigned (smart one Jonnie).

Then today I have learnt that some United fans are for retaining the services of Darren Fletcher who has been recently linked to Everton and at the same time the same supporters would sell Ronaldo to Real Madrid, this isn't quite on the level of "pastrygate", but what is? But nonetheless, I'm completely gobsmacked and baffled. We have the best player in the world in the form of Ronaldo, yet these fans would let him go and keep Fletcher who probably isn't even the best player in Scotland or United's reserves.

On the subject of lunacy, here's a question; Is Sepp Blatter the most war-mongering Swiss citizen ever? His nation have always steered clear of getting involved in fights, but unlike his fellow compatriots the FIFA chief seems to thrive on conflict. So it comes as no surprise that Blatter has waded into the war of words between Manchester United and Real Madrid over the future of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The FIFA chief used the term "slave" when referring to the likes of Ronaldo and his contract with the champions. Given that Ronaldo is one of the highest paid players in the world the term slave seems wholly inappropriate and that is putting it mildly (if a slave command such handsome pay i don't mind be 1).

Not surprisingly, United have responded to Blatter's unwelcome intervention stating clearly that all contracts are signed with the agreement of all parties. Further to which if players can walk out on contracts at any stage - which is what Blatter seems to be implying, there will be complete anarchy - it would be a recipe for disaster. FIFA recently introduced new rules which stipulate when players can buy-out their own contracts, all of which has already been agreed by the clubs and Ronaldo signed his last contract under those rules.

Blatter would be best advised to keep his thoughts to himself on the Ronaldo situation, his job as head of the world governing body should be to ensure structures are in place to deal with such issues, he clearly shouldn't be seen to be favouring one side or the other in a player tug-of-war such as the Ronaldo situation, but he chooses to do so and so he is perceived as a maverick headline grabbing opportunist who treats FIFA as his own personal fiefdom.

On the futures of Ronaldo and Fletcher, I'd like to know how many Reds fans would sell Ronaldo and at the same time retain Fletcher...their cannot be that many surely? Otherwise the world has surely gone completely utterly mad and the loonies are indeed taking over.

sabbatical? ...

This is the apartment in Gold Coast i am currently staying at (a tiny but cosy studio apartment).

to think i'd almost stayed in GC for >1 year blows my mind. i know it's not over just yet, but i already feel nostalgic. coming to GC has really sparked something in me. since school i've been floating through life, working, yea, but not really working towards a goal... if you know what i mean. then i jumped. i made the decision to come here to do something that i wanted to do, something for me. ya know? to place a new goal for myself, something that would make me happy (i hope :-D).

so as fate has it, i made it in and here i am now already 16 months into it. the people i've met at Bond U (yes, Alan Bond founded this place) are amazing. they've touched my life and inspired me in ways that i have not felt for years. the last time i was around people this passionate about something, i was kicking balls 4 days a week till the sky went dark.

the point of this post is to say, fuck it. im happy. and im looking forward to jumping more often.

zero or HERO...?

As the huge G8 deal is going on Japan, I was left to wonder about causes and the activists that they draw. It reminded me of when I was in undergrad, and one of those Greenpeace people trapped me and asked for a donation. Being broke, I told her I didn’t have any money to give. Then she suggested that I ask my mom for some money (my mom was ten thousand miles apart from me at that time). I gave her the most dumbfounded look - which she reciprocated.

Like everything else that I’ve been learning, everything is segmented by class - from the neighborhood you live in, the bars you can get into and even whether or not people will look you in the eye when you introduce yourself. And like everything else, I think causes and activism work the same way.

I think it’s fair to say that our personal histories allow us feel more compassion for certain causes. That compassion is also guided by the conflicts exposed to us during our formative years - so a poor person is exposed more to causes that are something like social justice and worker’s rights. And that a richer person would be exposed to something like environmentalism and famine in Africa.

In the end, it amounts to a concentration of resources for certain causes while others flounder - like Darwinism. Some causes become bourgeois and others become proletariat. The problem I have with this is that we’re working in a very crowded forum and it doesn’t help when we count cultural hegemony into the picture - the rich get richer.

Cultural hegemony assimilates fringe cultures into it’s massive folds of sameness and redefines their standards for them. Consequently, they take up their causes as well and what we see is a brain drain from those less mainstream causes. Without those resources and certainly without the brain power behind those smaller causes, they put tremendous stress on few who are still fighting it or it gets out of hand. Or nothing happens at all, but it doesn’t mean the problem disappeared.

Why I Can’t Be Bought...

I can’t be bought because I’ll gladly give myself away to interesting and worthwhile opportunities. If you have to pay me to convince me that your opportunity is interesting and worthwhile, then it probably isn’t.

move aside AiBo...Here comes Wall-E!

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lowering carbon footprints...

The National Geographic proposes ways to cut CO2 emissions.

life of a social entrepreneur...

Yesterday I received an interesting email from a colleague about Sarah, a social entrepreneur who is chronicling her experiences about building her venture on her blog. I like Sarah's collaborative approach to building her start-up. I thought that my colleague's described Sarah's quest so aptly that I asked for her permission to re-post her entire email verbatum.

"A friend of mine is starting a social venture where she is helping to empower the indigenous women of Ngoble-Bugle (a tribe living in northern Panama) through giving them access to the world market by selling their amazing handicraft to the world. These women make the most amazing bags from plant fiber. It takes 2-3 months to make one bag, and they are awesome.

Until now these women had no access to the market. There are hardly any roads leading to where they live, not to mention anything else. Sometimes a buyer goes to the villages and forces these women to sell their bags for just a couple of dollars. Couple of dollars for bags which took over a thousand years to design and over 2 months to make. Now Sarah (the social entrepreneur in the making) is giving them a fair price for the work and providing these women access to the whole world.She started a blog where she is talking about each step of setting up this venture. A great way to see positive change happening step by step.

Link: http://www.bagsmakeadifference.com"

P/s: This ain't like the designer labels "green washing" their bags with 'discounted' price but still at an exhorbitantly high pricing...

blogging for myself or for others?

While I didn’t blogged, I read weblogs. Big share of those are on politics & Life-style related themes. One of the trends that I was surprised to see is how many of those are into “pro-blogging” - blogging not only for the fun of it, but also for some business-related purposes (some links are here).

This seems to the case for “weblogs in general” too - I come across more and more advice on pro-blogging. Reading it I realise how much what I do with my weblog is guided by other choices and principles: I prefer not to define goals and strategies for blogging and while I’m glad to have readers, I do not spend much time putting on paper who is my audience and how exactly my weblog will make it happy.

And, on the top of it, I get annoyed when blogging is conceptualised primarily as a medium for public communication (especially with microphones or megaphones as a visual metaphor ;). Apart from describing my own blogging practices, I wanted to show the other side of it - blogging for myself. Below is a slightly roughed out piece.

***
Blogging is frequently viewed as a medium for public communication: it is reasonable to assume that those who do not want their words to be read by a broad audience would use another medium. However, while the need to communicate is a part of blogging, it is not necessary the primarily reason for it.

In my case blogging grew out of a need for a place to organise my thinking and exploration; the readers, as well as writing for them, appeared later. While the public nature of blogging was the factor I took into account from the beginning of it, the primary force that shaped it was its usefulness for myself.

In the process of balancing my own needs and interests with those of my potential readers when blogging I often make choices to serve my own interests first. Those choices shaped my blogging practices in multiple ways.

Work-in-progress instead of polished pieces. Although a weblog readers are more likely to benefit from well-thought and carefully crafted posts, my need for capturing ideas at their early stages resulted in writing quick work-in-progress memos. Using weblog for a quick documentation, often squeezed between working on other task also resulted in writing many relatively short posts, connected by links. While it provides a trail of connected ideas that works for my own purposes, it is more difficult to follow and to make sense of for a reader, who could probably benefit more from reading a longer entry that would connect several linked posts into a coherent whole.

Fragmented weblog focus. When started, my weblog was focused primarily on anything random. Over time my writing shifted to other topics, potentially alienating loyal readers. While I was “not sure that reading all random stories ‘thinking aloud’ is that fun” it was essential for my learning process, so it became relatively big part of the weblog content. Currently, the content of my weblog is pretty fragmented as it reflects the change of my interests and topics I worked on over time.

“Selfish” tagging. Another dimension where the choices between my own interests and those of an external audience appeared was using tags for organising my own posts. While I had multiple opportunities to use tags that would help users of external systems to find relevant entries in my weblog, I haven’t used them since this would mean losing personally meaningful tag-based navigation in my weblog. The choice of terms to use as tags is also influenced primarily by their relevance for my own thinking practice.

The reasons for choosing to serve my own needs before those of my audience are twofold:
Serving the needs of others might make blogging meaningless for myself. For example, writing only on a narrow set of topics in the weblog defeats the initial purpose of blogging to collect in one place fragmented bits relevant to my thinking.

In my case too much dependence on the audience is proved to be paralysing: I would spend too much time trying to figure out for whom exactly to write and what their needs might be (a bit more on writing for non-existing audience). Also, non-intrusive nature of blogging (e.g. compared to the email that is delivered to the mailboxes) means that there is no necessarily an audience for a specific post, so writing to serve others in this case feels similar to giving a presentation in an empty room.

a melon a day keep the Viagra away...

A groupf of researchers from North Carolina State Uni have discovered that WATERMELON acts just like Viagra

The juicy fruit could help thousands of men get extra fruity.

Tests have shown the fruit is packed with citrulline, a chemical that stimulates the body into relaxing blood vessels – just like the famous blue pills.

Eating watermelon regularly will also keep the circulation healthy. And the whole fruit is beneficial, even the rind.

According to the researhcers, men must eat six small cups of watermelon pieces to have the best effect.

Viagra was initially designed to help heart patients – that is until medics noticed its incredible effect on other parts of the male body.

P/s: Tesco, woolworths, coles will start stocking heaps of melons for eager men ;)

I'LL BE BACK...the new terminator?

I am sorry to dissapoint folks. (At press time) Arnie's not coming back YET.

But he's clinched something even bigger!

The California mayor has trumped New Mexico to land the new plant that electric car company Tesla Motors will build to manufacture its upcoming zero emissions sedan, the Model S.

This cute little darling will costs more than $100,000 in the US, the Model S will retail initially at $60,000. The company said on Monday that it has plans on the drawing board for a $30,000 model.

Hmmm, after AP fee, import duty and rental to park at one of NAZA's many showrooms, how much is it going to retail? Your shout...

Episode 3: Housing the greenies...

Modern days living laboratory

Sexy-looking recycled (certified) wood being put up

All set to go?

Pictures of building features to follow....

the end of the Green medusa?

According to a recent report, Starbucks Corporation said it will close 600 company-operated US stores in the next year, up dramatically from its previous plan for 100 closures, a sign the coffee shop operator is feeling the pain from the faltering economy.

Are you listening Vincent Tan? Is this the end of the reign for the Green medusa?

Green "Aquaball" for laundry...

If you're looking for a more environmentally-considered washing solution, then let check out the Aquaball.

Simple to use, effective, and economical, Aquaball is a simple ball with an eco solution to your laundry needs. It unleashes ionic cleaning power for a super wash every time. Each of these laundry balls is reusable and contains replaceable concentrated detergent pellets, which last for up to 60 washes, and with no harsh chemicals or foaming agent, this hypoallergenic ball can be used even at low temperatures.

The Aquaball works by releasing concentrated anionic detergent and salts into the water, softening and raising the pH for a thorough, sparkling wash.

They cost $35 each and i've just bought 2 balls..can't wait to try it this weekend for my laundry ;)

Episode 2: Tree hugging building

Trees are being sacrificed and land cleared

Piling works taking place

Structure erected

Fitting works taking place

After 12 months of work, its close to completion and ready to house it's 1st occupants. But what's so special about this building compare to the others? Stay tune for more pictures tomorrow.

Green shoe...

This is no ordinary pair of shoe.

Ever thought of walking around with a pair of sustainable shoe?

You can play a part in releasing less carbon by wearing 'em.

Check them out http://www.simpleshoes.com/au/index.aspx

p/s: only make purchase if you can locate a store near you. Do not place an order if it equire mail delivery because it will rake up more carbon footprints.

Even casino is going "GREEN"

Step inside any casino and you'll find the typical blackjack tables, slot machines and loosen-your-belt buffet. However the newly rebuilt Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel is one of it's kind with many , unusual features.

During daytime, half the casino's lighting comes from skylights.
Drinks are served only in glasses: no cans or bottles.

Some gamblers are smoking, but the air isn't thick with smoke.

And, outside, the roof of Bourbons 72 restaurant sports day lilies, ferns and leafy hostas.
Turtle Creek, near Traverse City, bills itself a "green" casino, designed to make the lightest possible footprint on the landscape without sacrificing profitability.

Its owners, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, are among a growing number of casino builders and operators interested in environmental stewardship.

The 360,000-square-foot, $116 million Turtle Creek opened Tuesday and replaces a smaller casino that will be torn down and mostly recycled.

It's especially hard to limit tobacco use in a tribal casino, given its iconic status in American Indian culture. But Turtle Creek developers tried to do the next best thing by installing a purifying system.

Outdoor air is pumped continuously into the gambling area through vents in the raised floor. Smoky air rises to the ceiling and is piped through filters, cleansed and sent back outside.

The resort has its own well and a sewage treatment system that purifies 90,000 gallons daily before returning the water to the ground almost as clean as before.

It also uses nature's cleanup crew: trees and other plants. The 2,400-square-foot "green roof" over one section of the building will filter storm water contaminants and provide insulation. In slight depressions on the grounds will be about 100 black willows.

If the trend catches on, green casinos could be ideal showplaces for environmental stewardship..are you listening GENTING?

Facebook larger than Porn...

I used to have social network accounts in MySpace, Orkut, Friendster and Facebook. As of today, only my Facebook account is still active with 244 new Facebook friends, the majority of which are Generation Y folks (i even consider my research supervisor one of them because he's cool).




Then i came across an article at Hitwise data that help me to find out more about my group of friends (the GEN Y Folks). By examining which websites social-network users visit after logging into their profiles, we can gain a bit of insight into how sites like Facebook fit into their members' daily online lives. The data showed that after other social networks, the most clicked-on category of sites was search engines, with 11.6% of all downstream visits. Web-based e-mail services were next with 8.5%. Blogs came in third in popularity at 6.1%, claiming more than four times the number of visits to traditional news sites, which logged 1.5% of downstream visits.


Perhaps a more interesting — and more accurate — way to figure out where these folks are going online is to assess which of the 172 web categories tracked by Hitwise get the most hits from 18- to 24-year-olds. Here's a shocker: Porn is not No. 1 (What? you gotto be kidding me because the last time i browse STAR paper their top hits are always sex-related). I've actually been puzzled by the decrease in visits to the Adult Entertainment category over the last two years. According to Hitwise figures, visits to porn sites have dropped from 16.9% of all site visits in the U.S. in October 2005 to 11.9% as of last week, a 33% decline. Currently, for web users over the age of 25, Adult Entertainment still ranks high in popularity, coming in second, after search engines. Not so for 18- to 24-year-olds, for whom social networks rank first, followed by search engines, then web-based e-mail — with porn sites lagging behind in fourth. If you chart the rate of visits to social-networking sites against those to adult sites over the last two years, there appears to be a strong negative correlation (i.e., visits to social networks go up as visits to adult sites go down). It's a leap to say there's a real correlation there, but if there is one, then I'd bet it has everything to do with Gen Y's changing habits: they're too busy chatting with friends to look at online skin. Imagine.


This reshaped online landscape leaves me feeling old (and yes i am old approaching the big 3) and out of the loop. It seems that social-networking sites have not only usurped porn in popularity, but they've also gobbled up time Gen Y-ers used to spend on traditional e-mail and IM. When you can reach all of your friends through Facebook or MySpace, there's little reason to spend time in your old-school inbox.

The reality is that Facebook isn't just for kids. Last week — and this was a highlight — my elder bro (who's not so savvy with computers), added me as a friend on Facebook (and also successfuly uploaded his recent South Africa trip pictures). I considered sending him a virtual beer to celebrate the occasion, but I didn't think either of us would see the point. Back in my day, we drank beers out of bottles and cans — we didn't have these new-fangled virtual beers. But, then again, I think that's something I probably still have in common with the younger generation, something I don't need Hitwise data to back up: the love of a good old-fashioned beer (Heineken, Tooheys or Bud any1?).

Let the messages roll in.

United to sign the new Ralph Milne...

How can i not blog my favourite beautiful game...alas Red Devils

It's that time of the season again, the summer transfer window has flung wide open with every Tom, Dick and Harry being linked to my fav club, Manchester United. As soon as the last whistle went out on this sunday Euro 2008 finale (Spain vs Germany), expect the transfer gossip to move up into overdrive. The tabloid press and their spin doctors have only been warming up - it is going to get a lot worse, by the end of the silly transfer window your nerves are likely to be shredded. The news has so far has centred on the future of Cristiano Ronaldo, with the focus very much on outgoing talk.

If Ronaldo is sold, which I would love to materialise, United will have to replace him. Then for the next god knows how many years we will have suffer the press labelling targets as 'the new Ronaldo'. It was seemingly ever thus. United have always been associated with great players, when George Best retired, we were told that Sammy McIlroy was to be the new Georgie, then it was Norman Whiteside, even last year a young Irish lad named Rob Brady was burdened with the label and of course comparisons have been made with Ronaldo and Georgie.

The thing is the tabloid press know that we fans want to read that our club have found a diamond. The media play on our love of all things great where the beautiful game is concerned, particularly if the player in question is being strongly linked to your beloved club, they know that we fans are especially receptive at this time of year, we are like mares in season, waiting to be serviced by the next big juicy transfer rumour.

But for every football fan, there is always a nightmare scenario; you dream that this new signing will be every bit as good as hype that surrounds this shining new star, but often when reality bites, you realise that instead of signing the next Ronaldo you have in fact signed a bit of a donkey in the form of the new Ralph Milne.

Folks, sans Ronaldo, we can look forward to that for the rest our days, for now let us hope that Ronaldo stays for a while longer so we can savour the real thing and not have to endure silly headlines. Only in the world of blogging can you get away with "United to sign the new Ralph Milne?..."

Great expectations:

Keith Gillespie - another likened to Georgie, but like his fellow compatriot suffered demons off the field play.

Djemba-Djemba - so bad they named him twice, likened by some to the next Keano.

Jordi Cruyff - burdened by his own namesake.I'm certain there's many more, send in your names of former players who were either labelled as the next 'xxxxx' or those who failed to live up to expectations.

blogolistic...

this blog is not about me trying to write in my blog, but i gotta say it is a shame i haven't came around to it in a while. my problem is that I am too much of a perfectionist, so when I do something, I want it to be as good as it can be. therefore, i thought i haven't had enough time to make any writings be quality enough to post. but, just recently, I have learned to loosen up and relax more. If everything you do in a day is work, and you end up skipping the other things in life that you also enjoy to do, you simply become unhappy after a while. you can't be unhappy and do good work. So this post took 3 minutes to type up. it may not be that interesting, and it is not perfect.

My point, it is just blogging.

Oh Hello Kitty...

After reading this article, It left me in silent wonderment. Japan Tourism has named Hello Kitty as its choice to represent the Land of the Rising Sun in China and Hong Kong where Hello Kitty is huge among kids and women (and some say even men). Officials expect that the iconic kitten will be able to attract a streamflow of tourists into Japan.

This is the first time that any tourism ministry has endorsed a fictional character as a country's tourism ambassador.They should be applauded for taking such a bold move but what about the risk?

Although Hello Kitty has been around since 1974 and found herself in many hearts, but is being cute sufficient enough to lure people to visit Japan? Hello Kitty is such a wonderful character but to be the key driver for tourists to visit Japan? It's a cute execution but a little far-fetched maybe?

p/s: check out this Hello Kitty song !

Episode 1. Where's the green?

This is no ordinary piece of empty land. An impressive building will sit on here when its door open next week. Stay tune for more pictures and features.

Can't get any worse for Zimbabwe...

Although his opponent has quit the presidential race because the reigning despot was basically threatening to kill every Tom, Dick & Harry who didn't vote for him, let's take a look at Mugys's plucky-but-ugly campaign poster.

Since present conditions in Zimbabwe suck dirt(1000x inflation), Mugabe understandably decided to focus on the past to fire up some patriotism, while also reminding the ungrateful citizenry that it is because of HIM that they've been independent since 1980.

However, R-Mug's no idiot; he realizes that the downtrodden people need some assurance that the future is going to be better. And, like any good politician (by the way, do good politician really exist?), he addresses this need with a slogan that promises absolutely nothing. But "all good things are possible" is maybe the worst campaign slogan ever recorded.

Art direction-wise (i don't really have much art sense but 5cents worth of comment), the layout is an absolute mess but I do like the "100% Empowerment" call-out (like old school sales circular). But the poster's visually torturous—way too much copy, and all the competing typefaces/colors/weights are headache-inducing.

Anyway,it make no difference because Mugsy will retain his seat with ease—"Politicians are the same all over..."

Melbourne...

Should you by chance find yourself in Melbourne, a fair city that rests along the southern side of the southern continent, you will be at once taken by the feeling that you have entered a foreign country. You have barely stepped off the train at Flinders Station and even before your gait sheds the rolling movement of the train, you step onto the surreal heart of this city. And the heart is not one you expect after all your wanderings , it is a space totally devoted to a stance away from the normal. The square is not a square, it is a jagged irregularly lit space lined by equally angular buildings, all glowing this way and that in the cold wintry morning. The rain that falls intermittently is cold as well, but you will scarcely feel it, dear traveler (in my case worker), as you wander around the square with a jaw threatening to drop in anticipation of further wonders. Here, for example, is the debris of a celebration, with only a giant and serene Buddha bathed in the light of an enormous screen relaying a popular entertainment. Here, for example, is the nerve centre of that most excellent of broadcasting services, and seeing the familiar blue and white logo makes you nostalgic for a time that is yet to come, a time when you realize that you are no longer in Australia. Words sidle across buildings, lights dangle between buildings, and there in the distance you can make out a spire reaching for the sky.

As you wander among the alleyways and the bylanes and the little connections between the streets, you notice throngs of people gathered together, huddling in barely lit cafes on chairs thrust onto the streets. You get the feeling, as you walk past the people, and as you peer into the various shops selling exquisite paper, or clothes or coffee or even books, that there is at least one city in this land that knows how to be a city. And the walls themselves bustle with the efforts of hundreds of artists who seek to claim a tiny bit of the wall, knowing full well that this claim shall soon fade to another’s hand. Some find a little more permanence than others, their work protected by a perspex sheet, but even this is mocked in this impermanent world.

A multitude of languages beguile your ear here, dear traveler, and even though you might be schooled in many, there are still several here that elude your grasp. And as you walk along the road, you will soon encounter the trams trundling along anachronistically, electricity arcing from the wires. And if you forego the road for the trams, you will soon realize that an entire series of lessons in etiquette await you. There are wonders here, in buildings that house ancient manuscripts that gleam in the light, in secret museums devoted to the capturing of light or to stones that capture the light, and in eccentric shops that are crammed with scientific curiosities -from miniature engines that work with the heat from light to insects and spiders fossilized in resin blocks.

And then, dear traveler, as your feet weary and you yearn for respite, you may well be surprised to stumble upon a restaurant that serves you food from your homeland, and in the manner that you only have memories of, and then, as you watch the city unfurl before you as you drink a fine coffee, you realize that you have always known Melbourne. You only had to see it to be sure it existed.

P/s: the writer was on a 10 hours working mission in Melbourne (& even got enough time for a decent haircut)

my ideal day at work

Last month I participated in a cultural probes study of communication at work. One of the things I had to do was writing about my ideal day at work. Found it in my pile of papers today and thought of posting up here- could be interesting to look back at it in 10 years :)(that is if i got a job then)

***

Ideally I would have a teleportation device. Something that would bring me closer to far away people I work with. Of course, we have all technology-mediated ways of working, all presence-awareness-ambient-intimacy tools, but nothing could beat having a lunch together. Even tea/coffee (a good fika) would do. Something “around work”, not actually working on things (this we can manage in technology-mediated ways), but bits and pieces of connecting at more personal level in between.

I would also have a little babel fish in my ear, so I would understand those speaking other languages, without becoming stressed myself or making them uncomfortable.

And I would have a “Mary Poppins” bag - I’d put my office stuff in there - books, papers, gadgets. Then I’d teleport to nice locations and work there, taking breaks to do little sightseeing or to taste local food while continuing work conversations. I’d also have a foldable “awareness” screen in the bag. It would show in some easy to decode visual way when people I work with or those in more extended professional network do something relevant to my own interests.

And my laptop will be sand-proof with perfectly visible things on the screen while outside and it would fold to almost nothing. And it would work from sun or wind or rain or movement of the train and would have internet connection even in a forest.

Or, if I have to be more practical… I don’t know… I’m working on changing things I don’t like and try to be patient with those I can’t change. I like having an office where I can put all my stuff (inclusive my Corinthian figurines) around and work without too many interruptions. I like having opportunities to socialise if I feel like it. I could definitely do with better food, like a nice café downstairs with wifi, whiteboards and a projector. I’d book it for all my meetings and spend some other time with my laptop, piece of cake and a cappuccino.

Mother Nature's Son

He is a dashing young man that draws a beeline of admirers.

He possesses an aura that smells invisibility.

But his enigmatic personality left many questions unanswered.


up next: strange happenings

Inevitable Marriage?

What's the biggie?



A couple of hundred same-sex couples in Arnie-town (yes, it's California) flock to the justice of the peace -- why should anybody care?
This is the single most powerful argument for gay marriage out there: Why should you care?

Gay marriage is inevitable, so stop worrying about it.

But hey, if the word "marriage" can be redefined as a civil rights imperative, why balk at lesser ideas like "monogamy" or "fidelity"?

I do not mean to underestimate the powerful forces pushing for gay marriage. But excuse me, I'm 28 years old. I've grown up with successive waves of progressive myths, all preaching "resistance is futile." I was told as a teenager that nobody would be pro-life once all the old folks died off, and that no mothers would be home with children. I was told communism -- or at least socialism -- was inevitable, too. Have you looked at the Soviet Union lately?

War is not about killing your enemies; it's about crushing your enemies' will to fight. Guess what? Culture war is too.

Nothing is inevitable but death and taxes. If Obama don't march into the White House this November, it will be because gay folks cared more, fought harder, gave more -- and I don't believe that's going to happen.

P/s: Californians are going to surprise the elites and the progressive mythmakers by joining the 27 other states (from Oregon to Wisconsin) that have voted to protect marriage as between husband and wife. and gay-marriage will be a fad in the rest of the world (apart from the Gulf countries)

And by the way, i am not gay and am getting married to a lovely lady next January ;p

F**king Town

THIS Austrian town is a major hit with foreign tourists – and it’s no f**king wonder.


Situated some 35km north of Salzburg, the village of F**king has been so named since 1070, in honour of a man called Focko (yes! Uncle F**ker).




Residents held a vote on whether to change the name in 2004 after becoming sick of village traffic signs being constantly stolen.

But the vote was defeated and it looks like the village of F**king is here to stay

p/s: the F**king Euro 08 organizers should have build a stadia in this town and name it F**king Stadium(sound much nicer than Emirates or Stamford Bridge).

Shoot! Closed down! What next?

After 39 years of service, Shoot's demise means no more of their legendary questionnaires.

The first issue sold over 300,000 copies and they sustained these figures throughout the magazine's first two decades with a ground-breaking Panini stickers edition.

For those of a certain age Shoot! magazine was fundamental to one's footballing education. For fantasy and kick-back enjoyment you might turn to Scorcher and Score or Roy of the Rovers, but for close textual analysis, breaking news stories, hard-hitting questionnaires, beautifully reasoned player columns and, of course, 'You are the Ref' it was to Shoot! you would turn every time. Shoot! was what one read before graduating to Hugh Mcllvanney. And now it is gone. Killed off at 39 years of age.

P/s: the writer still own a library full of Shoot! & MATCH magazine. Any takers?