I lifted my head from writing my novel, today, to find that Christopher Hitchens had died. There are few people in this world who hold themselves to the same standards as they hold others, even fewer who do it publicly in the genuine hope that they might help to better society, Christopher Hitchens was one…
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford My rating: 5 of 5 stars Utterly engrossing, and filled with information we should all know to combat all of the disinformation about Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire which still passes for common knowledge. I honestly believe that this book should be…
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man,1871 For as long as I can remember, I have been desperately concerned with my level of metacognitive skill. It was the reason I gave the first story I ever wrote for public consumption to my best friend to critique, I…
… Any time you send an unsolicited message about a product directly to someone on any of these social media, you are not being an uber cool company that is down with what the kids are doing these days – you are TELEMARKETING. Not only are you telemarketing, but you are calling during a dinner party. Imagine being at that dining table when the call comes through. Now imagine the talk about you and your product afterwards – it’s not going to be good is it?…
Because nothing should take itself too seriously, especially conventions about innovation and ideas, here is Tom Reilly taking a comic look at the TED in 2006. Enjoy!
In my RSS travels, I recently discovered a source of inspiration about which I am no doubt very, very late on the uptake. It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) I just didn’t know there was a place we could go to hear the speakers (rather than hoping the ABC would…
The sound and fury regarding the future of newspapers in the last couple of months has been getting ridiculous. In a speech recently, James Murdoch blamed the BBC’s “free” online news service (the BBC is funded by a license fee paid by any Brit with a TV or radio, for which I say “Thank you…
I don’t often make sweeping statements about “how things should be” on this blog because: a) who the hell cares what I think? ; b) it’s much more fun to do that in conversation so you have the benefit of more than one brain on the issue and; c) this blog, despite the narrative disorder,…
The irony is not lost on me that while I was spending 4 days living a life-long dream at the Sapporo Snow Festival my home state was burning. I remember Ash Wednesday in 1983 vividly, the smoke in the air and the blood-peach colour of the sun, when it could be seen, is unforgettable –…
A quick post with some quick notes for friends of the blog and blogger For NZ. K., in case she has any time at all in her busy busy schedule on her trip home, thinking of you and letting you know we won the quiz last night! Yay! For readers waiting for the…
