Clearly it works

Joe Natoli v Bob Abbot - It's done!

2008-03-16T22:56:00.004+10:00

One more big reason why Bob had to win:

I agree with the comment on 'The Daily' noble_dakini from Mountain Creek:

Your comments indicated a perception that the Sunshine Coast community would feel marginalised and intimidated by the prospect of a strong Gay community here and I think THAT is where you missed the boat. The very characteristics of openness and acceptance that make the people in our region so wonderful were completely disregarded - you misread your audience and it backfired on you.
...
Let this be a lesson to all you politicians out there - insult our intelligence and reap the rewards!

Just came across this:
Abbot calls for high-speed public transport
I've been going on about this for a while. So I will keep a keen eye on it. Currently it's more pleasant for me to go to Melbourne for work than into Brisbane. That can't be right.

Food Court Musical

2008-03-16T10:59:00.001+10:00

music treat: The Sweet Devines

2008-03-11T11:30:00.003+10:00

via swissmiss - thanks.

I am an Obama convert

2008-02-26T21:50:00.003+10:00

and this it what swung it for me:

This is a presentation by Lawrence Lessig, a scientific visionary. Amongst all the other terribly important stuff he does is chairing the Creative Commons project. Find him here: http://lessig.org

Applying risk management to global warming

2007-12-24T00:57:00.000+10:00

or better 'Applying risk management to climate destabilization'
A passionate science teacher makes sense. I love his graphs and reasoning.
Incidentally pretty much summing up my position in the 'Where it all ends'

Seasons greetings!

source: Bore me

Phew!

2007-11-26T12:18:00.000+10:00

Now we can look forward.

Howard must go!

2007-11-24T13:48:00.000+10:00

Please, dear Australians do the right thing.

It's official: We are the biggest piggies!

2007-11-15T10:46:00.000+10:00

Australia is the worst carbon emitter per capita. According to BBC news. Carma - Carbon Monitoring for Action - collates emission data in great detail world wide. 'Carma points out that while US power plants emit the most CO2, releasing 2.5bn tonnes into the atmosphere each year, Australian power stations are the least efficient on a per capita basis, with emissions of 10 tonnes, compared with the US's 8.2 tonnes.'

School's out!

2007-11-11T21:49:00.001+10:00

School's out!, originally uploaded by Bettina.

Ahhh - consider yourself blogged.
Chardonnay after school pickup. Lovely.

For Michael: Feist: One Evening

2007-11-07T22:07:00.001+10:00

Ohhhhh, have you heard/seen Leslie Feist yet? What do you reckon?
Feist on wikipedia
And have you got a you tube playlist perchance?

Today is grassroots media action day for Burma.

2007-10-24T10:55:00.001+10:00

Todays video 'treat' is: Opulent state wedding draws gasps in poor Myanmar

Krass!!

What can we do?

I haven't found an Australian Burma/Myanmar support site to donate to or sign a petition. Can anyone help?

One approach is to boycott the Chinese Olympics next year:

from US Campaign for Burma:

'China is paralyzing UN Security Council action on Burma. They are the main economic, military, and political supporters of the military junta. For fifteen years China has refused to press its closest ally to allow its people human rights, and used its veto power to block the UN Security Council from acting. As a result, the UN is making the same mistakes it made on Darfur and Rwanda. We are calling on people of conscience throughout the world to boycott the 2008 Chinese Olympics, join our efforts.'

Richmond Birdwing

2007-10-09T10:32:00.001+10:00

Richmond birdwing, originally uploaded by Fraserg.

Rapid population growth, greedy and unconsidered housing development and road building are a real threat to biodiversity and conservation here at the Sunshine Coast.
I'm stocking up my garden. Apart from fruit and vegetables I want to grow wildlife attracting plants.
Butterflies here are AWESOME - see the Richmond Birdwing with a wingspan of 14 cm - once common around here is now rare, because of loss of habitat and feeding plants for the larvae. I have seen ONE in the one and half years I've been here.
I would like to plant a Birdwing Vine 'Pararistolochia praevenosa'. Who's got one I could take a cutting? Or where could I buy one? Grateful for any pointers.

Kate Nash - Foundations (live at Later... )

2007-10-02T21:11:00.001+10:00

fan-bloody-tastic

cracking drums too

thanks Dana for sharing :)

Digital Eskimo on sustainable design

2007-10-01T00:33:00.001+10:00

I'm on board, Eskimo! On board the sustainability gravy train. It's the only way.

Noosa Council Free Tree give away

2007-09-28T12:37:00.000+10:00

There is a couple more of these free tree give-away sessions. Tiny treelets, but free! and mostly native or at least good for our conditions. Bring your council notice along and get a couple of goodies like:
Banksia Spinulosa
Elaeocarpus Prima Donna
Grevillia
Syzygium luehmannii
Tidouchina 'Jules'
and the gorgeous Gordonia 'Silk Screen'
Find all instructions on my flickr garden set.

Intuitect

2007-09-27T13:38:00.000+10:00

So I'm evaluating Intuitect. - a UX visio tool.
Unfortunately it crashes visio quite frequently. Flashbacks from times where your computer would freeze and crash as a matter of course ensue.
Intuitect has got some very cool features though - especially automatic updates to align sitemap changes with wireframes and navigation.
I so do not like their pricing strategy though - $800 and some for a years subscription for the pro version.
Until the application gets a bit more solid and the price drops to half at what they are demanding now I'll drop it or stick with the basic version... I'll just give it another try now.

The core of the experience!

2007-09-27T10:51:00.000+10:00

Sweet sketchcast by Peter Van Dijck.

Oz IA 2007

2007-09-26T09:27:00.001+10:00

It was my first Australian Industry do. Trying to catch up with everything now.
Random nugget of wisdom:
(For Sam!) Tableless web pages are like gold. With gold 24 karat is considered too soft, you want some impurities to make it stronger - so you need a few tables for stability. (Thanks James)
Ah and how I loved the 'Pinking shears' pattern talk from Sharon.
Here's the man! himself btw.

and this is for Eric to answer his apparel related survey question:

Parental warning - do not read this book!

2007-09-26T09:14:00.000+10:00

'The naming of Tishkin Silk' is a most beautifully written and so sad and touching children story. I was really struggling reading it to Marla. In fact I was sobbing through the last two chapters. I was dreading bedtime, because Marla demanded we finish the book - quite rightly. She was helping out reading the paragraphs where I totally packed up. It was downright surreal.
So, go on then, read it
- I dare you not to cry.

Ways to be more frugal

2007-09-13T01:14:00.000+10:00

This telegraph article made me laugh - lots. Check out the comments.
'Dead snakes make excellent and very economical disposal containers for used neon light tubes.'

Indigenous state of emergency

2007-06-30T00:02:00.000+10:00

Good posting on Larvatus Prodeo about developments since Howard announced his NT 'plan'. It contains good links amongst them to the National Indigenous Times.

UX - IA - User Centred Design - What's in a Name?

2007-06-28T14:19:00.000+10:00

Just listened to Jared Folkmann's pod cast on a 'Customer Experience Framework' he has developed as head of User Experience at gt.
His speech is very insightful for where I am at right now.

Jared has got a good point (amongst plenty others) when calling his area of expertise 'Customer Experience'. It is a more precise term for what he is doing whilst working primarily with retail clients. It makes business understand his role instantaneously and how he'll bring value to their business.

Having settled into Noosa with family, buying a house and getting it into shape I have also found my professional bearings. Using my IA skills designing 'User Experiences' for the Australian market I am focusing on eCommerce - I guess that could become 'Customer Experiences'.

other goodies to remember:

- ongoing 'rinse and repeat' cycles make for a great customer experience
- hire a smart analytics company
- 3 components of the 'Customer Experience Framework':

Who's visiting? (Segments)
Why are people visiting? (Intentions)
What are they doing? (Behaviours)

Thanks for sharing, Jared, and all the best.

Step by step: Peter Singer 'A Fair Deal on Climate Change

2007-06-19T11:09:00.000+10:00

from Project Syndicate

Establish the total amount of greenhouse gases that we can allow to be emitted without causing the earth’s average temperature to rise more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the point beyond which climate change could become extremely dangerous.
Divide that total by the world’s population, thus calculating what each person’s share of the total is.
Allocate to each country a greenhouse gas emissions quota equal to the country’s population, multiplied by the per person share.
Finally, allow countries that need a higher quota to buy it from those that emit less than their quota.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Am I going to drown?

2007-05-18T13:13:00.000+10:00

Having an after school cup of tea with Hillary yesterday she told me about an article she read saying the polar ice caps are supposed to be gone, finished, kaputt by 2020.
So having bought a new house I wondered if we'll still be dry.
I found this nifty google maps app showing projected sea level rise incrementally on google maps.
Seems we'll be dry, but awfully crowded.

Love Miles

2007-04-24T09:37:00.000+10:00

..."But one idea in Heat that will gain momentum is that of ‘love miles’, analogous to the ‘food miles’ that are already part of the language. These are the miles we travel to be with far-flung friends and family, so feeding the aviation industry which is the world’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases. Monbiot offers no solutions: “long-distance travel, high speed and the curtailment of climate change are not compatible. If you fly, you destroy other people’s lives.” Now where are you off to this summer?"...
Oliver Tickle, Resurgence
oh-oh!

'It works'

2007-04-03T10:54:00.000+10:00

'The Secret' has old roots. This booklet was published originally in 1927. It's 'The Secret' in a nutshell - some 30 odd little pages. The foundation of sucess coaches wildest dreams.

2007-04-03T10:43:00.000+10:00

'Change - doesn't happen until the fear of change is exceeded by the fear of not changing.'
Unknown

ciw - blog, CMS, wiki - linking it all

2007-02-25T13:10:00.000+10:00

- before our new 'clearly it works' site with CMS goes live - which might be a while - pesky work gets in the way :) - I'm linking some of my online stuff to create a (hopefully) coherent place.

Indigenous Australians

2007-02-25T11:55:00.000+10:00

Indigeonus communities urged to apply for telecommunications funding - abc news
Indigenous Australians - Wikipedia entry

Reading Matters

2007-01-04T00:51:00.000+10:00

webdiary founded and inspired by Margo Kingston, author of "Not happy, John!"
Crikey: "The Crikey mission: Crikey's aim is very simple: to bring its readers the inside word on what's really going on in politics, government, media, business, the arts, sport and other aspects of public life in Australia. Crikey irritates the powerful by revealing how they operate behind-the-scenes, and it tackles the stories insiders are talking about but other media can't or won't cover."
Larvatus Prodeo: "Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective."

Uh - Oh , this is good stuff on climate change:

2006-12-04T22:23:00.000+10:00

From Friends of the Earth reader contributions to the Big Climate Debate.
I hope Andrew Tweedie doesn't mind my copy and paste. I just loved his questions:
"
Since Solar radiation at Saharaian latitudes delivers 300% more energy /heat than in the UK and, according to the German Fed Gov report (see link via www.trec-uk.org.uk) only 10% is lost in transmission using HVDC. (60% is now wasted at power stations in the UK!)

A) why is no funding invested in a super HVDC renewable grid that would overcome fluctuations in output as well as enable export of our own "of peak " renewables" and the importation of CSP generated electricity through more than one transmission line enabling a better "mix" & security of supply?

B ) why is the subsidy per £1 of solar thermal REPLACEMENT electricity only 10% while Nuke power Wind or PV panels 40%? (yet ouput cost per £ is 10x better!)

C) Since peak oil will have a massive impact on the global economy and oil consumption has resulted in global warming why is there no V.A.T on aviation fuel whose funds could be transfered to public transport?
"

Andrew Tweedie

OMG - back to design

2006-11-29T21:51:00.000+10:00

Not only interfaces - even PRINT!
Emigrating to a place where the main activity is done by the sun i.e. shining sure keeps you on your toes!
Emigre: How befitting that my favourite font designer right now is Zuzana Licko. And no, I don't mind showing my age, nor my populist taste.
I hear thunder. It's been a hot and muggy day and we are waiting for rain.
Icebergs off the New Zealand Coast.

Kids TV

2006-11-26T14:07:00.000+10:00

What are Australian's terrestrial tv program schedulers on? This weekend - apart from 'Dora the Explorer' at 6 in the morning - there seem no kids shows on tv at all. Premium kids movies start usually around bedtime 7:30 pm.
Workday mornings are chocker with little kids shows. Playschool is ok.

Tooth Fairy

2006-10-31T11:15:00.000+10:00

The tooth fairy just had to take M.'s word for it.
After months of preparation for the 'coming of age' a.k.a. loosing her first tooth - including the purchase of an ornamental box and discussing tooth-to-dollar conversion rates - she swallowed it un-noticed.
The poo-fairy got it.

L. said

2006-10-26T17:33:00.000+10:00

'Ouch, you squeezded my big muscums small!' when I tried to pick her up on her upper arms.