Bridge the Void

This happy fellow is a toxic nudibranch. See lots more toxic...

Thu, 15 May 2008 02:45:12 -0400

This happy fellow is a toxic nudibranch.

See lots more toxic nudibranchs in the amazing nudibranch gallery by David Doubilet at National Geographic.

"The more industrialized and technologized a society becomes the more it has to grapple with..."

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:07:55 -0400

“The more industrialized and technologized a society becomes the more it has to grapple with procrastination as a problematic notion.”

- And that’s why sitting behind a screen all day is a recipe for procrastinating. Of course, procrastination was a problem in ancient Egypt, too:

the ancient Egyptian language had two verbs corresponding to procrastinate. One verb referred to the useful avoidance of unnecessary or impulsive efforts, and the other to the harmful shirking of tasks needed for subsistence, such as tilling the soil at just the right time during the Nile’s annual flood cycle.

(via How we got a word for “putting things off.” - By Ben Zimmer - Slate Magazine)

Best work lunch ever?

Tue, 13 May 2008 22:38:47 -0400

Grilled sausages on bread with tomato sauce, just like you’d get at a hillclimb for $2.

New Ferrari California. Overwrought, but not unlikeable, if...

Tue, 13 May 2008 20:46:33 -0400

New Ferrari California. Overwrought, but not unlikeable, if you’re into Euro-thrash.

Mondo Croquet 2005

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:33:55 -0400

Mondo Croquet 2005 :

Get dressed up and play Croquet with bowling balls and, one assumes, sledge hammers.

Awesome.

Too many children dying in crashes

Mon, 12 May 2008 23:36:58 -0400

Too many children dying in crashes: Most children who die in car crashes are improperly restrained, either in the wrong size seat or using an adult seatbelt when the child is too small or they are not restrained at all. I have nothing sensible to say about this. How you can not take every step to sensibly care for your child’s safety is beyond me.

Being google-stalked by your mum

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:05:21 -0400

My mum: I was reading your website the other day
Me: Oh? Which one?
My mum: Oh, I don't know. I just look at whatever comes up in google
Me: ...
My mum: You're a very strange boy
Me: Thanks, mum.

Twitter doesn't scale down

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:00:00 -0400

Last week I tried twitter, mostly because all the MacBreak Weekly guys are always on about how awesome it is and how it lets your crowd-source all these things that are basically wicked problems. Which I’m sure is awesome if you’re among the most followed people on Twitter and have enough microlebrity to make that sort of use possible.

But, if you’re decidedly unfamous, as opposed to infamous, twitter doesn’t seem to make any sense. It’s like being the only person in a group who uses email, or the only one of your friends who is on Facebook.

In short, twitter doesn’t scale down. The value of twitter comes from the network effect. If you have no network, you get no effect. Normally, I’m all for shouting into the void, and I can see how and where and more importantly for who twitter works.

But it didn’t work for me.

"There’s an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy to use as his telephone...."

Mon, 12 May 2008 20:39:24 -0400

“There’s an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know how to use my telephone.”

- Bjarne Stroustrup (via warpedvisions.org ) (via inky)

I used to have this on my office door.

Things Better Than Ironman

Mon, 12 May 2008 07:30:05 -0400

scriptie:

A Maria Carrey music video I saw last weekend

“Zombie Strippers”

GTA IV strippers

And that answers that question, Dave and Geoff.

Sydney properties halve in price

Mon, 12 May 2008 02:33:21 -0400

Sydney properties halve in price:

HOUSE prices in some parts of Sydney have almost halved as battling borrowers struggle to keep up with increasing interest rates.

Ouch.

"In 1985, the average American had three people to talk to about their problems. Now the figure is..."

Mon, 12 May 2008 02:26:00 -0400

“In 1985, the average American had three people to talk to about their problems. Now the figure is just two. Why? Longer working hours are one reason but the real culprit is technology.”

- Richard Watson writes that Human contact is a cyber failing.

Clearly, Watson is an ~~asshat~~ technological determinist.

"It has cutesy animal “daemons” and flying witches that turn up completely at random, and something..."

Sun, 11 May 2008 22:09:38 -0400

“It has cutesy animal “daemons” and flying witches that turn up completely at random, and something about angry polar bears and an old apparently omniscient guy with a balloon, and some secret shadowy organisation that’s stealing kids and cutting their ferrets off so that Nicole Kidman can have a less angry monkey… or something…”

- Dr Dave didn’t like The Golden Compass.

(Ad Hoc - It’s OK, the Golden Compass is crap.)

nevver: Mopar Phat.

Sat, 10 May 2008 06:17:34 -0400

nevver:

Mopar

Phat.

And that, kids, is why I love my Peugeot.

Fri, 09 May 2008 02:01:44 -0400

And that, kids, is why I love my Peugeot.

A type of whale, upwards of 7 metres in lengh that lives in the...

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:31:35 -0400

A type of whale, upwards of 7 metres in lengh that lives in the high arctic and has a tusk that can be up to 3 metres (10’) long.

What is a Narwhal.

World press photo of the year, 2008. American soldier resting at...

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:16:33 -0400

World press photo of the year, 2008. American soldier resting at bunker, Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, 16 September. Picture: Tim Hetherington, UK, for Vanity Fair

via www.news.com.au’s gallery of the World Press Photo awards.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:49:48 -0400

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

-
Ralph Waldo Emerson (via minuswell, who probably likes this for the same reason I do).

Nietzsche tried hard to communicate why systematization of thought was detrimental to philosophical integrity. Look no further than Hegel, whose system is complete enough to swallow the whole universe of inquiry but leaves man shivering and alone, waiting for the Existentialists’ rescue.

Systematization of thought, the imposition of consistency and the extension of ideas to their limits, is an urge we all have; it’s particularly destructive politically, in governmental and private organizations. The application of Marxism to art and music, or the manner in which companies begin to stupidly force the latest business-speak stratagem from their CEO on the most minute details of their operations, exemplify this.

We all like to logically abstract our principles and then instantiate them in the areas of our lives; we seek consistency, formality, codification, standardization, and the smooth, clean system of the purely logical world. We subordinate reality to this vision: everything we see reminds us of our favorite candidate’s ideas, our favorite author’s theses.

The flaw inherent in seeking consistency or systematization is that you place a higher value on those qualities than on the inherent properties of whatever you’re systematizing. If we are trying to construct HR policy that is “fair and just,” but begin to overly standardize its processes and remove autonomy from managers, we have have reduced its fairness and justice in the interest of consistency.

The search for a truly full system in any field or endeavor, one both complete and coherent, was dealt a blow first by Wittgenstein and then by physicists, but it persists. It persists despite the fact that we all know what works: inconsistency, decentralization, flexibility, local implementation of ideas and communities, policies at the individual level, and so on. It’s why we want to work for start-ups and not monoliths.

But still, every damn day in meetings, I hear, “Well, we have to be consistent.” No, we don’t.

(Note: it is important to observe the word “foolish” in the quote; not all consistency is foolish, of course).
(via mills)

What else can be said except: Yes.

elderdave: Unsurprising quotes #847: “Hemp advocates foresee a bright future for hemp.” Gee…you...

Tue, 06 May 2008 03:09:47 -0400

elderdave:

Unsurprising quotes #847:

“Hemp advocates foresee a bright future for hemp.”

Gee…you don’t say, huh. I’ve rarely known hemp advocates to be anything but tediously over-optimistic about hemp’s ability to cure all social, environmental, and medical ills and lead us into a shining new future of galactic love, harmony and shared consciousness. It’s a wonder we’re not making eco-space-shuttles out of it right now, if the hemp publicity hyperbole is anything to go by.

Quote taken from the (heavily biased) wikipedia entry for hemp.

Yes, it’s hemp day in my little tumblr circle.

"Boy, Spanish Broom sure is awesome! You really should get some Spanish broom shirts. Better for the..."

Tue, 06 May 2008 02:52:56 -0400

“Boy, Spanish Broom sure is awesome! You really should get some Spanish broom shirts. Better for the environment than fibreglass shirts, and they breathe almost as well as polyester! Man, you want to hear about how they’ve been trying to suppress Spanish Broom for centuries? The authorities fear it, man. They fear Spanish Broom. But those native Broomecs of SpanishBroomia used it for everything man! And they were like totally in tune with Mother Earth, as well as Mother Fire, Mother Water, and Mother Wind (though, they kinda kept their distance from her a bit if ya know what I mean). Yeah man, Spanish Broom. You know the military are using it in, like, stealth fighters but they’re keeping it all secret, man…. yeah. Spanish Broom.”

- Dr Dave. Spanish Broom.