Tag: on the web

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.

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.

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.”