December 2011
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April 2011
2 posts
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Who will save America from drowning in debt? →
This article by Jeremy Warner is frightening. The scale of the impending calamity is summed up in the observation that “By the end of the decade, the annual [United States] interest bill alone will have reached $1 trillion, or more than a quarter of all current US federal spending.” Amazing and depressing in equal measure.
If you want to scare yourself with statistics, go to...
Back
I can’t believe my last post was over six months ago. It has been a busy time. I’m back now…
September 2010
4 posts
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August 2010
3 posts
July 2010
1 post
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May 2010
7 posts
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Frustrated with Desire →
I was planning to share my thoughts on the range and quality of the apps available for the HTC Desire and Android that I have installed on my phone. However, after a night of absolute frustration with the device, I decided to sit on my hands and wait until calmer heads prevailed, and discuss what I think is one of the key shortcomings with the device, particularly in comparison to the iPhone.
...
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Desire - Day Three →
I am interested to see how far, in three days, my Desire has come from the stock setup. While this has been in part to minimise the impact of the bundled Telstra apps on my user experience (as discussed on Twitter and here), it is a testament to one of of the things I really like about this device – its configurability.
I love my iPhone, but I have really wanted to grapple with Android because...
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HTC Desire: First Impressions →
My HTC Desire arrived this morning. Since then, I have used my iPhone twice. Once to set up call divert to the unit I will be testing for the next two weeks, and then to get the Exchange sync settings for my work email.
I never thought I would say this in a million years, but it has not been missed.
I suspect this is as much about me as the device itself - I manage most of my life with the...
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A Curious Wednesday →
Last Wednesday was, well, interesting.
On my elated way from a meeting where I had brokered a potentially large and beneficial housing partnership between my council and a large university, I received a call from Kristen from Telstra, telling me that I had been selected from 2500 entrants to be one of 25 social reviewers of the HTC Desire.
As I tried to maintain my composure at the news, I...
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Watch
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April 2010
1 post
March 2010
12 posts
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Way Wrong Zero
merlin:
“Because, what I have proposed—the thing that’s helped thousands of people around the world get their work and life straightened out—is simply to accept that finding the time to check for new mail (or new anything, for that matter) should also mean finding the time to make a simple, one-time decision about what each new item means to you. That’s it. Then you get back to your...
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Beast Pieces: Squarespace Poster and Business... →
cameronmoll:
I follow Beast Pieces regularly. I’m a fan of Squarespace. And Tyler and I have chatted on more than one occasion. It was a pleasant surprise to see the three come together in this post.
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Why I Take Good Care of My Macintosh
Gary Snyder is one of my heroes. At 79 years old, his mind is still as lucid and cutting as ever. I guess that is what a lifetime of Zen practice does for you.
By Gary Snyder
Because it broods under its hood like a perched falcon,
Because it jumps like a skittish horse and sometimes throws me,
Because it is poky when cold,
Because plastic is a sad, strong material that is charming to...
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Craigmod: Annapurna Moonrise
“On the side of a mountain you are acutely aware of your body. Of having aching arms and legs and lungs that are too weak. Shoulders that feel like they might start bleeding at any moment. An uncanny ability to sweat all day, rendering yourself a wet mop of a man. And cells begging for more oxygen than you’re supplying them.
You feel food turn into fuel. A piece of chocolate after...
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R.I.P. Mark Linkous
I was saddened yesterday to learn that Mark Linkous committed suicide on the weekend.
Good Morning Spider, It’s A Wonderful Life and Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain have been among my most frequently played albums for a number of years.
The darkly lush soundscapes he created were so influential on my own music - not in the manner of appropriation, but rather, affiliation...
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Pollution in China →
More pictures of runaway development that took my breath away, this time from China. The high price of progress indeed.
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Moscow Air Pollution →
When I first saw this picture, my unconscious response was that it was a gorgeous image, in a way only a painting could be. Reading the caption and looking closer induced the shock of recognition - this is a real, man made dystopia.
If the price of economic development for the environment is this high, and the potential of intergovernmental responses to climate change to bring about...
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How to present designs to a client | Gavin Elliott... →
Top designers give advice on the best methods for presenting designs to a client. Mostly directed at the web, but useful for designers in other mediums, like me.
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iA » Designing Firefox 3.2 →
Mac users have become increasingly spoiled for choice of late, as new web browsers spring up and existing ones acquire new functionality. Because of this, I have been moving between Chromium, Safari and Firefox on fairly regular basis over the past few weeks. This article from iA is a reminder of what makes Firefox truly awesome - its extensibility.
February 2010
6 posts
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Make Yourself Presentable | Jason Santa Maria →
I just started a job in local government, where I will be working with a lot of different stakeholders and audiences and giving presentations on the aims and objectives of the project. Jason Santa Maria has some interesting insights on this most difficult form of performance art.
My first time speaking professionally in public was back in 2005 at the first An Event Apart in Philadelphia. While...
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“I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on...”
– Roger Ebert (via lkm)
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Is Indie Dead? →
I would add a rejoinder to the conclusions this brilliant article draws - there are two types of music, good and bad, and all according to your own taste. To be caught up in labels, categories and stereotypes isn’t very indie (or punk) now, is it?
By Rachael Maddux
“There’s a part of me that can never shake the indignation that [indie] once was about ethics and business practices,” Slim Moon...
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The iPad Is Step 1 In The Future Of Computing.... →
This story from TechCrunch makes me all kind of tingly inside. I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that the desktop as a metaphor has outlived its useful purpose. We should be looking to unshackle ourselves from it and move on to something new.
And spatial computing is scary new.
January 2010
1 post
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December 2009
6 posts
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How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I... →
Mark Lynas | Environment | The Guardian
Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful “deal” so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How...
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The Dark Side of Dubai - Johann Hari →
Possible byline: The high price of progress in decadent Dubai.
I hope any society which builds its wealth on back of slave labour crashes, burns, falls into the ocean or is swallowed by the earth.
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier...
November 2009
17 posts
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