Time for a change?

This is interesting: MI6, the UK's Secret Intelligence Service is advertising for recruits via Facebook.

Gone are the days where you are secretly tapped on the shoulder while studying at Oxford or Cambridge universities. Now anyone posting their most personal details on social networking sites can work for MI6.

(Just kidding, I can't work for MI6 because I'm not a British citizen but isn't that the ultimate cover anyway.)

I used to live ten minutes away from MI6 headquarters. I walked past it whenever I walked home from work. The building is bristling with CCTV cameras. I am sure MI6 have lots of grainy black and white photos of me on file.

MI6 headquarters in South London -- isn't it an ugly building? I think of it as a wedding cake.

I used to also republish this blog and my photos on Facebook. I really liked being able to bring my writing and photos to all my more passive and non-RSS-cluey friends through Facebook. Reluctantly, though, I have now deleted almost all my original work due to this statement in Facebook's terms of use:

'By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide licence (with the right to sublicence) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorise sublicences of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time.'

I've thought about removing my work from Facebook for a long time. It was a difficult decision -- I feel the risk of Facebook using my work in a way I didn't like was low and the benefits of Facebook delivering my work to friends were high.

But... I found out I cared about these things more than I originally thought when a non-profit website used one of my photos without giving me credit. I was very upset, even in this case, where it is for a good cause. (They denied that it is my photo but I have proof.)

Sigh. Oh well.

LHC rap

Very funny! Here is a rap about the End of World Machine (aka Large Hadron Collider) by the hip dudes at CERN. Commentary and explanation is at the New Scientist blog.


CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.

Life explained

This looks interesting -- VideoJug. The tagline is 'Life explained. On film.'

The short films are on topics as diverse as 'How to tie a tie - full Windsor knot', 'International Waltz: Basic steps for a follower', 'How to kiss someone passionately', and 'How to open and clean scallops'.

This is what I need -- 'Fashion Advice For Your Body Shape: Pear'. Surprisingly, by trial and error, I've worked out the same rules that they've mentioned in this video.

Damian joins blogworld

I welcome Damian, my housemate, to the blogworld -- Worldwide Rants. Damian is ruthless and entirely accurate in his opinions. He likes Jaws and bobbleheads. From his blog, we can expect to read workplace woe, praise where he witnesses (rare) competence, and bobbleheads of the week.

Undemocratic

From Made in China in The Age.

Yu says [Chinese] policymakers are beginning work on a new five-year plan beginning from 2011 that will intensify the country's current energy, pollution and climate-change efforts. But he says China is sticking to the levers of administrative edict rather than considering a domestic carbon-trading scheme.

"In my view, if there's a huge polluting factory next door, then the best option is to shut it down, rather than allow it to buy credits so it can keep polluting and then pass the higher costs on to consumers," says Yu.

Brilliant. None of this mucking about with this 'market solutions', 'flexible mechanisms' or 'public consultation' stuff, just the all-powerful arm of big government.

FAIL Blog

A website with many of the funniest pictures I have ever seen. Warning: not highbrow.

Visit FAIL Blog.

Social media + ice-cream

This is a good, perhaps overly rosy, explanation of social media. I found this video through Knowledge and the Cardinal.

I like ice-cream.


Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

Hoop La La

My favourite, favourite talent act of all time -- Hoop La La. I'm gutted they didn't go through to the finals.

Oh, the cheese! The cheese!



For those interested, the two that did make it to the final were George Sampson and Strike. They were both pretty good too, I'll admit.

Shift happens

A very, very thought provoking video about the information age in which we live -- Shift happens. Watch it. I like the first half best. The predictions of the future near the end of the video are a bit fuzzier. If you don't want to think too much, then enjoy the music.

And then my life flashed by before my very eyes

This World Clock is thought provoking. I can see that as I have been writing this blog post, (on average) 48 people have died of cardiovascular disease, 23 have died from cancer, 379 bikes have been manufactured, and the earth's temperature has risen by 0.0000001 degrees.

Ikealand!

Ever since playing in the Ikea ball pool as a child, I've had a soft spot for the Swedish furniture store. I was excited to read on the HATS project blog that the first Ikealand has opened in the UK.

The houses come pre-assembled, so the flatpacked Bo Klok houses do not come with a giant allen key. Which, in my opinion, is a shame.

P.S. Here's an interesting article about Ikea's origin and philosophy.

P.P.S. Hahaha... I like this paragraph from the article above.

Over noodles at Ikea's staff restaurant, I ask one designer whether everyone at the company is really as energetic and hardworking as they seem. Isn't anyone lazy? "Of course there are lazy people," she says. "There are lazy people everywhere. But they're not..." She pauses, as if seeking the correct word in English. In fact, she's wondering whether what she is about to say will cause offence. "They're not Swedish," she says at last.

Babies can spot the good, the bad and the ugly

This is cute.


Link to YouTube video -- Babies can spot the good, the bad and the ugly

Are you smarter than a high schooler?

This is cool. A link I got from Random Connections led me to The Blog Readability Test.

I usually try to use the simplest words as I can and favour short sentences (damn, I wrote that sentence so self-consciously that I reviewed it three times for simpler words and shortness!). I'm glad that high schoolers can read my blog!

Hmm. It just occurred to me that this application is probably American, so high school is equivalent to Years 9 to 12. I wonder what it would take to make my blog readable by 14 year olds? Maybe I need to put more 'lol' and 'tonite' in. (Did you see the strategic first sentence in this post?)

For those not in Australia or who don't watch TV, the title of this post refers to the new TV show on Channel 10, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? The show is interesting in its concept but duller in execution.

Oh, I've just found out that there are versions of this show all over the world.

P.S. Here is a link to a random Opinion article I got from The Age website. I put it into the readability test application and it came out as 'junior high school'. It's managed to capture the 14-year-old market that I want! I wonder what the difference is between it and my blog?

Brighton weekend

Last weekend, Damjan and I went to Brighton, England's most famous seaside town. We had a great time. More than any city I've visited in the UK, Brighton feels like Melbourne -- full of young people, relaxed, and multicultural. We arrived in time for Brighton's food festival. So not only did we enjoy the tourist guide attractions of the beach, tacky seaside pier and King George IV's extravagant Royal Pavilion, but we also got to eat ate lots of the best kind of ethical (free range, organic, international and local) food.

Brighton's beaches are a poor substitute for Australian beaches. Instead of sand, there are pebbles. The good thing about pebbles are that they don't get into your shoes and clothes like sand does. They can be painful to walk on. The English Channel also makes for cold swims. I only waded in up to my legs.


Walking out of the street of our hostel, directly in front was the wreck of Brighton's West Pier.


A lady from the Brighton West Pier Trust told us that it was in perfect condition in 1975. Here it is intact, with its concert hall and pavilion on the walkway to the big bit at the end (whatever it is).


Its private owner wanted to turn the pier into a casino but the local council refused permission. Having no other plans for the pier, the owner offered it to the council for £1 but the council declined because it couldn't afford the upkeep. The pier was left to decay. The West Pier Trust was set up to raise money for its restoration. They finally managed to secure funding from the Government and private funding (£15mil each) but in 2003, there were two fires. The pier was already falling apart so fire was the final straw and the structure was completely gutted. Also gutted was the funding from the government (bye bye, £15mil). The Trust now says they're going to build a massive needle tower type thing in front of the pier that will somehow save the whole project. Erm. Right.

When we walked by the beach each morning, we saw this fellow with the metal detector. We once saw him stretching and flexing. He looked funny.


The Royal Pavilion was unlike any castle I had visited in England. King George IV was a party dude. He liked clothes, food, women, food, music and food. Over about 35 years, he turned his Brighton holiday farm house into this 'fantasy palace'. They tried to make it look Indian on the outside and Chinese on the inside. I giggled at some of the attempts at 'Chinoise' styling by people who had never been to China.

Damjan's favourite room in the palace was the huge kitchen. It had all the latest mod cons from the 1800s -- self-turning spits, steam tables to keep food warm, exhaust vents. We saw a menu for one of the daily feasts. It had 36 entrées and many more dishes.


We didn't know that the food festival was going on when we planned our trip. We had stepped out of the Royal Pavilion and suddenly saw tents in the garden. At the first tent, someone offered me a strawberry and banana smoothie. All I had to do was blend it by riding this bike. I was delighted that someone had also thought of harnessing the energy of stationery bikes. Imagine if we could have blenders on our normal bikes. We'd all have smoothies by the time we got to work.


At the food festival, there was a table full of sage plants. I never knew there was such a variety. Pineapple sage?


On the left are giant turnips. On the right are tiny pumpkins.


Like Melbourne, Brighton has laneways of shops, cafés and restaurants. We visited a nice art gallery, a very fun kitchenware store, a shop of well designed futons, outdoor adventure stores, ethnic grocery stores, and quite a few eateries and bakeries. The last three photos are from the Lego shop.

You can buy individual Lego pieces from these portholes. It reminded me of M&M land in Las Vegas, where you can buy every colour M&M in existence.


Even Lego figures like to play basketball and soccer.


Shiny transparent red and blue bricks.


While we were in the Lego store, Damjan and I thought, 'They should make movies out of Lego!' And then, what did we find on YouTube?

The Han Solo Affair


Indiana Jones (hehe, watch for the twist)


Amazing Lego dancing on Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'


And a rap music video, Circle Circle Dot Dot.

The value of idealism in the real world

I really like this short opinion article -- The power of ideas.

This reflects a philosophy that I've learned this year at Cambridge. It is a philosophy that I have not only learned but have come to believe in my core. Essentially, for me to be effective, authentic, persuasive and steadfast in the real world, I need a deep understanding of the ideal state. It is not enough to build on what's already been done, seeing a few feet or five years ahead in the fog. Fundamental change happens when you know what you are aiming for over the next ten, twenty, fifty years, and there are a critical mass of people who believe in the same vision.

You can be idealistic and realistic at the same time. In fact, to be a change agent, you have to be.

This year has given me vision and that has been more valuable than any technical or business skills one might learn.

Pro-fat

I burst out laughing when I read this at Slow Travel.

"I did however spot possibly my favourite t-shirt slogan of all time adorning the chest of a slim Thai girl it bore the legend 'Fat people are harder to kidnap'. So that’s the American anti-terrorist abduction strategy explained in full then."

Bunny bully needs home

I like this ad on Gumtree. If I had a home, I think I would adopt the bunny, even if he is a bully.

Here's Joanie!

Everyone's doing it -- Simpsonizing themselves.

(I'm on my lunch break so don't make fun of me for lifting my internet lockdown.)

Real Joan compared with Joan Simpson. Believe it or not, I made Joan Simpson without looking at this photo. I only searched for a similar photo afterward. It's an old photo. I had my hair cut and de-fringed last month so Joan Simpson's hairstyle is more accurate.

The Scholar Ship

Strange... yet oddly appealing -- The Scholar Ship

It sounds like you pay US$20k to spend a semester travelling around on a cruise ship and studying. The universities that 'steward' the programme are credible ones (e.g. UC Berkley, Fudan, Cardiff). You can then do an additional semester at Macquarie University to get your Masters in International Communication.

The ship going from this September starts in Athens (Greece), then goes to Lisbon (Portugal), Panama City (Panama), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Shanghai (China), then debarks in Hong Kong.

The January voyage is different again.

You know, I wouldn't mind lecturing at such an institution!

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

I love it!

Today I met Joaniesaurus
She breakdanced before us
Then crashed into the fridge
She now tries to ignorus...

Wigiwigiwigi...!