CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-01-30 04:06:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I think it's been said before: "They get bitter, they cling to iPhones (their  religion) or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-affordable sentiment or anti-egalitarian sentiment as a way to explain their prejudices."

2012-12-02 00:03:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Rough basic blues. Elemental. What more do you want

2012-11-21 08:55:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Gotta have soul. Gotta love soul.

2012-11-19 21:04:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Blame it on the IT
Only one percent of the Romney campaign's overall expenses of $339 million went to supporting internal information technology. That included consulting and outsourcing services, Web hosting, broadband, hardware, and software. 
88 percent of the campaign's $757,000 software budget was spend on campaign finance compliance software. Romney’s campaign relied on software-as-a-service and outsourced data centers, but spent just $21,000 directly on Web hosting (the Obama campaign spent $1.4 million) and around $36,000 in total on internet hosting and services . 

The campaign paid 76% of its total consultancy spend  or $1,059,000 to Best Buy’s Mindshift Technologies for IT outsourcing, desktop support, and network services (including office PCs)  . 

2012-11-15 21:49:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Surely the sole instance of genuine creativity is evidenced in the innovative patent application, not the design per se.

Oh that I never be privy to the dark and twisted workings of the mind that came up with this.

2012-11-14 01:46:57 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Partial solar eclipse as seen from Parnell, Auckland this morning. Thanks to our good neighbour, photographer Murray Job (http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayjob/sets/72157624985205936/)

2012-11-12 21:24:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

"The Latino giant is wide awake, cranky and taking names." Eliseo Medina, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.

Now there's a man who knows how to deliver a sound bite.

2012-11-12 20:00:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Maureen Dowd: "New Hampshire will be the first state to send an all-female delegation to Congress. Live Pink or Dye."

2012-11-11 07:48:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Such a model of decision-making clarity that you almost want to live through the election again just to see it in action (only kidding).

2012-11-09 22:47:38 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Romney campaign's project Orca goes belly up over producing election day strike lists

2012-11-09 21:05:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

And now all I want for Christmas  is something that automatically transfers the bottle to the recycling bin after the kids have emptied it. I swear that, if left to them, our  fridge would be filled with air-only containers within a week. 

2012-11-02 19:29:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

"Changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie." 

2012-11-02 00:27:11 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

No cheer for democracy: questioning the integrity  of "a privatized, secret ballot count."

2012-10-25 20:14:16 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

This has to be the most fun presidential cartogram of the 2012 campaign. But I do so want to be able to pop selected balloons, and to see the candidates elevate or sink as a result.Maybe in 2016. 

2012-10-25 00:07:42 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

It comes down to whether you prefer a feed or a filter? I prefer the latter, in fact a multitude of filters, the respective biases of each of which I have, over time, been able to assess. 

2012-10-24 03:00:31 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

...and another reason why I love reading the New Yorker.

2012-10-10 02:13:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Decoding the five grunts

The Nobel foundation has announced that the 2012 Nobel Peace prize, has been awarded to a group of researchers who, in the interests of inter-generational accord, have spent years decoding teen speech patterns. As a result of their groundbreaking and selfless work we now know that teen grunts can be assigned into one of five classes:

The grunt of acknowledgement
“I hear  you and recognise the sounds that you’re making are human. I will now deploy my remaining senses and, if I determine that they relate to the pending delivery of food, I shall materialise, in my own time and with my hands unwashed, in order to partake of the aforementioned offering.”

The grunt of dissension
“I do not agree with what you said. I do not accept that you have said anything. I dispute the validity of the concept that meaningfulcommunic... more »

2012-09-27 22:05:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-09-22 21:06:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Humpback cow cavorting with her calf in the waters off Vava'u, Tonga. Witnessing their affection was an experience at once deeply moving and humbling.

2012-09-19 21:56:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

My Location@10:43,20/9
Mounu Island‎, Tonga
http://m.google.co.uk/u/m/w0QitW

Just chilling in the fale after a day of whale watching. In the water for 2 x 20 minute spells with a 15 metre, 45 tonne humpback whale and her playful 5 tonne calf. Three black-tipped reef sharks came and checked us out as we swam.

2012-09-13 03:27:01 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Awesome @NZPost. You can teach an old dog new tricks

2012-09-09 06:52:55 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

"And I was born before the Nixon administration"

Gotta love that historical perspective 

2012-09-09 06:40:58 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

What was that line about a better mousetrap?

2012-09-06 12:11:04 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Stanley Kubrick's single point perspective
I learned more about Stanley Kubrick's visual composition techniques by watching a1.44 minute video clip than I managed in 40 years of watching his movies.

www.kuriositas.com/2012/09/onepointperspective.html?m=1

2012-08-25 21:11:57 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Researchers use "Bayesian phylogeographic approaches" and vocabulary data from 103 ancient and contemporary Indo-European languages to map the origins and expansion of the indo-european language Family. Apparently it all started on Anatolia.

2012-08-12 23:33:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Not only did Bell Labs lay the foundation for Siri (don't worry about Apple being sued, the patent on this has long since expired), but also inspired, as this video makes plain, a generation of low tech Pac-Man-like video games. 

2012-08-09 03:36:18 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Even on Mars, you can't get away from Shelley:

"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

2012-08-03 08:13:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Just came across this testament to the power of seemingly effortless simplicity. Etta James, once she winds up, what a voice! Even Chuck Berry has to take a back seat. And, while this clip may not fully show it,  wouldn't Keith always be your number one pick on rhythm guitar?  

2012-07-24 04:40:44 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

As someone who brings a 50Kg Newfoundland to work each day I  can attest to the contribution Bosun (for such is his name) makes to office life. He's responsible for greetings and morale.

We do not, however, see eye to eye about a couple of  functions:  he thinks he's in charge of security  and waste disposal. The rest of us beg to differ.

2012-07-23 02:24:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Haven't heard a whisper about the artistic ability of our current PM, but the last one was certainly known as an occasional painter. Oh wait ...

2012-07-23 01:21:56 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Must-reading for the number crunchers and policy wonks in the NZOC: the ever-stimulating Nate Silver’s guide to selecting sports that are likely to yield Olympic metal. Go wrestling team! Score points!  

2012-07-23 01:12:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Maybe I had a visually deprived childhood. It could be that my creative ambitions outpace my abilities by an order of magnitude.  Or you could call me a cheap digital date. At any event, I'm a sucker for an infographic. 

2012-07-17 02:05:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Oh to start over in maths with all the cool tools. Puts my dusty pencil scrawls of yesteryear to shame. 

2012-07-04 20:48:36 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Ode to the semicolon
Oh indeterminate mark most misunderstood,
Fussy and unloved by periodical stylists,
yet capable of taming thought's wild torrent
to a easy stream; thus full
of pleasing possibilities.

2012-06-28 05:04:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Handshakes with meaning

Mao and Nixon, Sadat and Begin, Gorbachev and Reagan, De Klerk and Mandela, Rabin and Arafat ... 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-18607096

Behind every one, a story; beyond, a promise.

2012-06-28 02:51:17 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Oriella Digital Journalism Study 2012

Infographic showing which sources journalists increasingly rely on to cover the news. 

2012-06-28 01:44:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Oriella Digital Journalism Study 2012

How digital technologies are reshaping journalism

• Media now carry a wider range of digital content types, support more devices, and make greater use of online sources than they did a year ago.
• Over half of the 600+ respondents expect their title's audience to grow this year.
• 36% say their publications publish videos (2011: 20%).
• 40% say their publications offer journalist-authored blogs.
• 25% of publications have mobile apps.
• 52% said their titles had Facebook pages and 46% said Twitter feeds.
• Discussion boards are down to 26% (2011: 37 %).
• 44% used blogs that they knew to source news stories (2011: 30%); 22% would use unfamiliar blogs in the same way (2011: 43%).

2012-06-04 06:52:17 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Simple Deductions
Watson: What do you make of this?
Holmes: From the state of the wallet, the location, the abundance of unfiled receipts, the crush of once used loyalty cards and the relative shortage of cash I'd say it belonged to a senior journalist.
Watson: But it's open!
Holmes: It's a gesture only. He's obviously right handed, so if he meant to take money out he'd have been holding it in his left hand, the one currently clutching a glass.  

2012-06-03 21:44:14 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Awesome session by Kiwi rock trio Heart Attack Alley. Just listen. Hard.

2012-06-01 01:29:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Alsup rules. Oracle fumes.

2012-05-28 23:43:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Sonorous, stately, measured, but with an air of solemn inevitability.

2012-05-25 03:18:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Cool interactive visualisation of NZ budget by Keith Ng showing zero sum of new funding and cuts

2012-05-03 22:17:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Just curious. When will +Anonymous (Official) claim to have undermined NZ government by enlisting +Kim Dotcom to compromise John Banks MP?

2012-04-15 21:33:35 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Adherence to a familiar narrative pattern has long been a staple of results reporting, whether in sports, business, weather or shipping movements. But, as ever, the devil -- and the interest -- is in the detail: someone has to make a judgement call as to what makes a particular line of narrative sufficiently more emotionally rewarding for a reader to pursue with anything other than a passing interest. Otherwise it all has the same bland appeal as highly processed baby food: all nutrient and no texture.

2012-03-26 02:11:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Jane Clifton invokes the Rime of the Ancient Mariner to explain how Nick Smith dealt with the albatross (Bronwyn Pullar) hung around his neck.

And the aftermmath:


He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man
He rose the morrow morn.

2012-03-19 21:10:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The narrative energy evident in even the few truncated sentences reproduced from Schönwerth's collection is enough to make me want to devour more.

2012-03-19 20:58:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

So how does this tie into the European sovereign debt crisis? There must be a derivative connection somewhere

2012-03-16 05:05:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Great work Joe. Now can you please perform the same service to all government communications. With talents such as you exhibit here you would, working on your own immeasurably improve state sector productivity. I would gladly contribute to a fund to support such a worthwhile endeavour. And I wouldn't require a tax deduction to do so.

2012-03-07 21:21:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Stephen Fry's rollicking, resonant, typographically animated plea for joy in expression and sanity in correction:

"They're too farting busy sneering at a greengrocer's use of the apostrophe. Well sod them to Hades."

You can only convey some of that on Twitter

2012-02-18 22:07:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Awed at my own insignificance