April 2012
6 posts
Listen
“Our lowest level of hell is embarrassment from being deemed uncool. When did we...”
– Jim Cooper
Transcendence
I’ve been thinking a lot about transcendence lately. This talk by Jonathan Haidt at TED helped me view of transcendence not in terms of a religious experience, but simply as the desire to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
In this sense religion is one way to seek transcendence, perhaps the most obvious way; this could be why we’re seeing a resurgence of religion in young...
“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”
– Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964
I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote since seeing Wilson Miner speak at Webstock 2012.
We get to choose the things we own and to some extent, the things we use. Choosing these things is equivalent to shaping our tools. Thereafter our tools...
March 2012
1 post
“Finding only the absolutely essential features that are required for something...”
– Dustin Curtis on Svbtle
December 2011
1 post
How incentives saved Darwin's man-eating...
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to attend a post-conference dinner at Crocodylus Park in Darwin, Australia. We ate outdoors surrounded by over a thousand crocodiles while Grahame Webb, the founder of the park, spoke to us about his work saving the crocodiles from extinction.
My favourite solutions involve aligning incentives to achieve the desired result, and the story of Darwin’s...
November 2011
1 post
How Club Penguin teaches charity
Yesterday I heard Lance Priebe, the co-founder of Club Penguin speak at AnimFX 2011. I was looking forward to his talk because Club Penguin is kind of a big deal. It’s a safe virtual world where children can play games and chat with each other. With over 150 million users between the ages of 6 and 14 it’s the most popular child oriented site around. Ask any 10 year old and chances are...
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
2 posts
Fixing Kiwibank's Account Number Fields
In Kiwibank’s online banking the Account Number is split into four fields. To copy an account number you have to either copy and past in sections, or type it out. I do this a couple of times per week whenever I pay someone new. After months of mild irritation I wrote a Chrome extension to automatically change the 4 fields into one field which strips out hyphens and whitespace and reinserts...
August 2011
2 posts
“I may be wrong but I think the idea of legacy is for fools. We will all be dust....”
– Alex Bogusky
July 2011
5 posts
Subliminal Stimuli
Yesterday I signed up for Spotify. Pick a song, any song, Spotify lets you play it instantly, on your computer, or your phone, or your ipod. For someone like me who loves music but can’t be bothered keeping their local music library up to date it’s a game changer.
The free account I’m on is loaded up with free advertising and the major launch partner is Coca Cola, so for a few...
166 Years
In August of 1844 a German explorer named Ludwig Leichhardt departed Sydney to explore the inland section of Australia now known as the Northern Territories.
The expedition party initially numbered 10, but two turned back and another was killed in an attack on their campsite by aboriginals (natives). The remaining 7 completed a 3,000 mile overland journey to reach Port Essington in December of...
April 2011
1 post
10pm, driving, I stop at the lights. A man runs...
March 2011
5 posts
k776 asked: Will you release the RailsQuest source code on Github for a look?
RailsQuest
I spent last weekend at Railscamp, an unconference/hackathon for developers. One project I worked on while there is RailsQuest. It started on friday night when a group of us started brainstorming ideas for a project that we could build at Railscamp, for Railscamp.
The concept was to take something that happened at Railscamp (people programming stuff for fun) and add a unifying social game...
1 tag
November 2010
1 post
September 2010
3 posts
Heaps! wins TUANZ awards
I spend a lot of my time working on heaps! and last week we won the Education and Commerce categories at the TUANZ Innovation Awards which is fantastic! If you’re a Kiwibank customer and you’re not using heaps! yet then you should definitely check it out.
I’ve just had a fantastic couple of days in Dunedin, though the temperature is about a quarter of what it was in California....
2 tags
Adioso →
Yesterday I caught up with Andrew Tipton who is now a co-founder of Adioso ‘a travel search engine for spontaneous and adventurous travellers’. One of my goals at the moment is to be more nomadic and with fares this cheap I’ll be looking at more international trips!
August 2010
3 posts
Graduation
I had my graduation ceremony on the weekend. Yes, I got dressed up in the gown, hood and cap. No, I will not be posting photos. Now I have a BSc, majoring in Computer Science and am an Alumni of the University of Otago.
This also marks my return to blogging, lets see how long it lasts.
June 2010
1 post
May 2010
3 posts
“When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than...”
– Why the Lucky Stiff
April 2010
4 posts
“Can whoever owns the bed currently situated under the stairs on the ground floor...”
– the Computer Science Secretary to all CompSci students
hoperenee:
fuckyeahprettygirls:
...
March 2010
7 posts
I can't wait to go to University
drian42:
michaeldowse:
drian42:
it’s going to be awesone.
I wonder, what should i study? Where should I go?
I should really know by now..
Correct. Don’t stay in Wellington. Otago’s pretty good.
Why not? I think i might, but i wouldn’t stay at home. Otago? So i here. Do you think its good to go to whichever place does whatever you want to study best, or the place that generally appeals...
I saw her hipster with her hair dyed grey last...
albertsabyss:
Is this a thing now?
Yeah, it’s a thing and I hate it.
Google Docs: Making me look like I'm working when...
Jess: Ha we're both editing the report. I'm writing about our calibration at the moment, you?
Me: I leave tabs open for weeks without looking at them
I can't wait to go to University
drian42:
it’s going to be awesone.
I wonder, what should i study? Where should I go?
I should really know by now..
Correct. Don’t stay in Wellington. Otago’s pretty good.
I'm pretty happy with that Skins ending
Come on guys, Skins has never had happy, or even conclusive endings.
I've been listening to the same three albums for...
Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
Metronomy - Nights Out
Bloc Party - Intimacy
Suggestions for new music?
February 2010
3 posts
“Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You...”
– shitmydadsays
I spent the weekend mountain biking in Taupo but...