Podcasts – or more importantly time shifted audio content – are, I believe, one of the great information accelerators of our age. I subscribe to a number of feeds mainly from NPR in the US, the BBC in the UK and the ABC in Australia. I listen to them in the car on my commute [...]
I have just read one of the most thoughtful pieces about media and the internet… “The Slow Media Manifesto” (and a tip of the hat to Bruce Sterling). Here is the pre-amble to the manifesto: The first decade of the 21st century, the so-called ‘naughties’, has brought profound changes to the technological foundations of the [...]
Most people who know me, or who have read this blog for a long time, would know that I love to cook. In fact I would have to say that it is a passion. So much so that I have started writing a recipe book… It's not for mainstream publication. It is actually for friends [...]
Systems evolve over time. Look at the eco-system that drives most of the western world. It has been around for a relatively short time in historical terms. It is a sub-set of capitalism that may now be showing signs of weakness as a continuing driver for wealth creation. I’m talking about consumerism. Consumerism is assumed [...]
When young men reach the age of 17, (in Australia) they obtain their driving licenses. Then they buy a cool car (death trap) that isn’t worth the money that they or their parents paid for it. The next three years of their lives are spent “tricking” out the car with the best mag wheels, [...]
Depending on your point of view, it would appear that Government Departments are either very good or very bad at cooking the books. (Although possibly they didnt forsee independant analysis of the data….) For the last few days I have been researching for an article that I am writing on Perceptric. There are various [...]
The current war in Iraq has been going on longer than World War II. It was 2003 when the US and its allies invaded Iraq. It is now 2010. WWII went from 1939 to 1945 – 6 years. The Iraq war is now over 7 years old. The current government in Australia and the current [...]
Tom and I were talking today about the Hedonic Value Index that he is working on. I wondered aloud to him whether happiness and hedonism are actually alike. One of the great societal problems that we currently face, and is, I believe, a symptom of the GFC, is this confusion between consumption of things as [...]
On Boxing Day I went to the movies…. Bad idea – so crowded it wasn't even worth queuing up to get a ticket. So went home… The day after, went to the movies again. This time left with enough time that I could get tickets and then stand in line waiting for the show to [...]
Isn’t interesting that industries that use outdated business models tend to die. In the 1800’s Candle and Tallow makers were fearful of their futures and even in two hundred years ago, there were people that paid out on the protectionist industry. The following is copied in toto from http://www.panarchy.org/bastiat/petition.eng.1845.html Read it, cogitate [...]