Deography

Computers Today - A Perspective.

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:53:50 +0000

Remember when we landed a man on the moon on a rocket called Apollo?

The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) that landed man on the moon had 36k of read-only memory and 2k of “ram”.

To put it in perspective.. here is a JPG photo of a kitten that is almost equivalent in file size to the entire computing power on the Apollo spaceship that landed man on the moon.

This file is 41k

Think about that next time you complain your first gen iPhone 3G is only 16 gigabytes .. about 440,000 times more capacity than the computer that landed man on the moon.

How to Opt Out of Getting Yellow Pages in Australia

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:34:22 +0000

Every year they drop the yellow pages on my doorstep and every year I’m filled with bitter disappointment for the sheer volume of waste this bygone era of information delivery has wrought on the world.

I wish yellow pages physically printed forest destroyers would cease entirely, but I’ve found out how to opt out of delivery for a 3 year period :

1. Go to https://www.directoryselect.com.au/ds/

2. Put your postcode in the Cancel section

3. Give them all your personal details, first born child etc.

4. Enter ridiculously hard Captcha Code

5. Click the “activation” link in the email they send you.

BAM. No more yellow pages. And good riddance.

Human Universals - A List of Human Stuff

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:03:43 +0000

Donald E Brown, an American anthropologist and scholar, took the time a few decades ago to compile a list of things that all human races appear to have in common. I remember finding this list online a few years ago and pouring over it.

One of the topics that has always interested me is the question of what it means to be human. This list doesn’t answer that question and these things are not uniquely human, but we do appear to share them across disparate cultures. The modern office worker and the Eastern Eurpean cave man’s commonality is documented here, and it’s wonderful.

This list is actually from http://condor.depaul.edu/mfiddler/hyphen/humunivers.htm and we can assume the copyright remains with Mr Brown, for which you should consider his book - Human Universals.

Human Universals… compiled by Donald E. Brown

..as published in The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker,
2002, New York: Viking Press

Brown, D.E. 1991. Human universals. New York: McGraw-Hill

also see Brown, D.E., 2000. Human universals and their implications.
In N. Roughley (Ed.) Being humans: Anthropological universality and particularity
in transdisplinary perspectives. New York: Walter de Gruyter.

abstraction
in speech & thought

actions under self-control distinguished
from those not under control

aesthetics

affection expressed and felt

age grades

age statuses

age terms

ambivalence

anthropomorphization

anticipation

antonyms

attachment

baby talk

belief in supernatural/religion

beliefs, false

beliefs about death

beliefs about disease

beliefs about fortune and misfortune

binary cognitive distinctions

biological mother and social mother normally
the same person

black (color term)

body adornment

childbirth customs

childcare

childhood fears

childhood fear of loud noises

childhood fear of strangers

choice making (choosing alternatives)

classification

classification of age

classification of behavioral propensities

classification of body parts

classification of colors

classification of fauna

classification of flora

classification of inner states

classification of kin

classification of sex

classification of space

classification of tools

classification of weather conditions

coalitions

collective identities

conflict

conflict, consultation to deal with

conflict, means of dealing with

conflict, mediation of

conjectural reasoning

containers

continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)

contrasting marked and nonmarked sememes
(meaningful elements in language)

cooking

cooperation

cooperative labor

copulation normally conducted in privacy

corporate (perpetual) statuses

coyness display

critical learning periods

crying

cultural variability

culture

culture/nature distinction

customary greetings

daily routines

dance

death rituals

decision making

decision making, collective

differential valuations

directions, giving of

discrepancies between speech, thought,
and action

dispersed groups

distinguishing right and wrong

diurnality

divination

division of labor

division of labor by age

division of labor by sex

dominance/submission

dreams

dream interpretation

economic inequalities

economic inequalities, consciousness
of

emotions

empathy

entification (treating patterns and relations
as things)

environment, adjustments to

envy

envy, symbolic means of coping with

ethnocentrism

etiquette

explanation

face (word for)

facial communication

facial expression of anger

facial expression of contempt

facial expression of disgust

facial expression of fear

facial expression of happiness

facial expression of surprise

facial expressions, masking/modifying
of

fairness (equity), concept of

family (or household)

father and mother, separate kin terms
for

fears

fear of death

fears, ability to overcome some

feasting

females do more direct childcare

figurative speech

fire

folklore

food preferences

food sharing

future, attempts to predict

generosity admired

gestures

gift giving

good and bad distinguished

gossip

government

grammar

group living

groups that are not based on family

habituation

hairstyles

hand (word for)

healing the sick (or attempting to)

hope

hospitality

husband older than wife on average

hygienic care

identity, collective

imagery

incest between mother and son unthinkable
or tabooed

incest, prevention or avoidance

in-group distinguished from out-group(s)

in-group biases in favor of

inheritance rules

institutions (organized co-activities)

insulting

intention

interest in bioforms (living things or
things that resemble them)

interpolation

interpreting behavior

intertwining (e.g., weaving)

jokes

judging others

kin, close distinguished from distant

kin groups

kin terms translatable by basic relations
of procreation

kinship statuses

language

language employed to manipulate others

language employed to misinform or mislead

language is translatable

language not a simple reflection of reality

language, prestige from proficient use
of

law (rights and obligations)

law (rules of membership)

leaders

lever

likes and dislikes

linguistic redundancy

logical notions

logical notion of “and”

logical notion of “equivalent”

logical notion of “general/particular”

logical notion of “not”

logical notion of “opposite”

logical notion of “part/whole”

logical notion of “same”

magic

magic to increase life

magic to sustain life

magic to win love

making comparisons

male and female and adult
and child seen as having different natures

males dominate public/political
realm

males engage in more coalitional
violence

males more aggressive

males more prone to lethal
violence

males more prone to theft

males, on average, travel
greater distances over lifetime

manipulate social relations

marking at phonemic, syntactic,
and lexical levels

marriage

materialism

meal times

mearning, most units of
are non-universal

measuring

medicine

melody

memory

mental maps

mentalese

metaphor

metonym

mood- or consciousness-altering
techniques and/or substances

moral sentiments

moral sentiments, limited
effective range of

morphemes

mother normally has consort
during child-rearing years

mourning

murder proscribed

music

music, children’s

music related in part to
dance

music related in part
to religious activity

music seen as art (a creation)

music, vocal

music, vocal, includes
speech forms

musical redundancy

musical reptition

musical variation

myths

narrative

nomenclature (perhaps the
same as classification)

nonbodily decorative art

normal distinguished from
abnormal states

nouns

numerals (counting)

Oedipus complex

oligarchy (de facto)

one (numeral)

onomatopoeia

overestimating objectivity
of thought

pain

past/present/future

person, concept of

personal names

phonemes

phonemes defined by set
of minimally constrasting features

phonemes, merging of

phonemes, range from 10
to 70 in number

phonemic change, inevitability
of

phonemic change, rules
of

phonemic system

planning

planning for future

play

play to perfect skills

poetry/rhetoric

poetic line, uniform length
range

poetic lines characterized
by repetition and variation

poetic lines demarcated
by pauses

polysemy (one word has
several meanings)

possessive, intimate

possessive, loose

practice to improve skills

precedence, concept of
(that’s how the leopard got its spots)

preference for own children
and close kin (nepotism)

prestige inequalities

pretend play

pride

private inner life

promise

pronouns

pronouns, minimum two numbers

pronouns, minimum three
persons

proper names

property

proverbs, sayings

proverbs, sayings - in
mutually contradictory forms

psychological defense mechanisms

rape

rape proscribed

reciprocal exchanges (0f
labor, goods, or services)

reciprocity, negative (revenge,
retaliation)

regocnition of individuals
by face

redress of wrongs

resistance to abuse of
poser, to dominance

rhythm

right-handedness as population
norm

risk-taking

rites of passage

rituals

role and personality seen
in dynamic interrlationship (i.e., departures from role can be
explained in terms of individual personality)

sanctions

sanctions fro crimes against
the collectivity

sanctions include removal
from the social unit

self-control

self distinguished from
other

self as neither wholly
passive nor wholly autonomous

self as subject and object

self-image, awareness of
(concern for what others think)

self-image, manipulation
of

self-image, wanted to be
positive

self is responsible

semantics

semantic category of affecting
things and people

semantic category of dimension

semantic category of giving

semantic category of location

semantic category of motion

semantic category of other
physical properties

semantic components

semantic components, generation

semantic components, sex

sememes, commonly used
ones are short, infrequently used ones are longer

senses unified

sex differences in spatial
cognition and behavior

sex (gender) terminology
is fundamentally binary

sex statuses

sexual attraction

sexual attractiveness

sexual jealousy

sexual modesty

sexual regulation

sexual regulation includes
incest prevention

sexuality as focus of interest

shame

shelter

sickness and death seen
as related

snakes, wariness around

social structure

socialization

socialization expected
from senior kin

socialization includes
toilet training

spear

special speech for special
occasions

statuses and roles

statuses, ascribed and
achieved

statuses distinguished
from individuals

statuses on other than
sex, age, or kinship bases

stinginess, disapproval
of

stop/nonstop contrasts
(in speech sounds)

succession

sucking wounds

sweets preferred

symbolism

symbolic speech

synesthetic metaphors

synonyms

taboos

tabooed foods

tabooed utterances

taxonomy

territoriality

thumb sucking

tickling

time

time, cyclicity of

tools

tool dependency

tool making

tools for cutting

tools to make tools

tools patterned culturally

tools, permament

tools for pounding

toys, playthings

trade

triangular awareness (assessinjg
relationships among the self and two other people)

true and false distinguished)

turn-taking

two (numeral)

tying material (i.e., something
like string)

units of time

verbs

violence, some forms of
proscribed

visiting

vocalic/nonvocalic contrasts
in phonemes

vowel contrasts

weaning

weapons

weather control (attempts
to)

while (color term)

world view

Byron Bay, Wategos Sunset Phallus

admin — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:48:53 +0000

From the prehistoric cave walls, to ancient roman graffiti, to modern art and culture.. is there nowhere on earth that isn’t improved with the addition of an impromptu phallus, complete with vein lines and pubic scribbles?

Running a Business in Byron Bay

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:48:39 +0000

So I know it must seem like I’ve been pretty quiet. I used to give you guys the excuse that I had to study, but now my masters is finished I’ve no such excuse. I can say however that behind the scenes I had spent some time in negotiations for my business, DNA Digital a local australian web design company.

Rather than explain it, I’ll just link the Northern Star’s reporting of it. (Click Here to Read “Couple Weave’s Own Web” from Northern Star Newspaper) There was an official press release you can find on the DNA Digital site too. The only things I’d clarify is that I’ve been in business for 10 years, not 2 and Your Name was not a “rival”, but run by a great colleague and peer of mine.

Suffice to say running the business from Byron Bay this last year has been excellent. Mostly because of the food. I must have put on 4 kilos. Such GOOD food mere footsteps from my office is a dangerous thing to my health. No packed lunch for me. I often walk on the beach before, during or after work and love that clients are all too happy to drop in when they are on holiday. I think I see them even more regularly now than I used to!

I’m going to try and write more often. Even if it’s just interesting tidbits here and there, and not necessarily rambling discourses. Take it easy!

Life as a Nerd in Byron Bay

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:51:00 +0000

I started this post, with a glass of red wine. With several in fact, to be honest. That is how all great monologues begin; uninhibited and well… ranty. My operating system’s spell checker tells me that ranty isn’t a word. Well, I think you know what I mean anyway, so screw you operating system.

I’ve always been a self confessed nerd. There’s no use hiding it. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve used the internet to bolster my knowledge of sport or mechanics. I just don’t care enough to pull it off in conversation. And despite the ongoing debate about nature vs nurture, I hold the opinion that no amount of environmental support would have made me any better at kicking a football towards it’s intended destination. Instead of feigning authority… I simply fess up to being a nerd, incapable of regular social intercourse. It’s not you, it’s me. Honest.

Living in Byron Bay, Australia, hippy capital of Australia, puts me in a peculiar position. On the one hand I have the pseudo scientific mumbo jumbo that comes from the new-age “spiritual” posse of the area and on the other there is the ultra-cool surfy demographic willing to throw themselves into the indiscriminate ocean in pursuit of a water based ride. Not to demean either group, which I hold in high enough regard, but I just can’t do it. I like the idea of both of course - free love and spiritual transcendence or the physically and socially rewarding surf culture both sound like perfectly edifying pursuits but I just don’t have the grapes for either. I’ve often mused that if God exists, why did he endow me with such a critical, skeptical epistemological view as to render himself non-existent? Or why if I’m so envious of the “cool” sporty types while I find more gratification in the intellectual pursuits of technology and philosophy than football and water sports.

To make matters worse, I’ve been endowed with the arrogant failure of my internal editor. Without a sense of “taboo”, I’ll happily engage my peers in conversations about politics, religion and sex where they’d rather discuss the weather, sport and local gossip. Who cares about such inane topics? Why do we fritter away our time of such inconsequential lines of inquiry? Perhaps I’ll never know, so instead I’ll probably continue to offend, rebuke and challenge my conversational partners in such exchanges. I’d rather be offended than bored. Wouldn’t you? Life’s too short to talk about the weather. Unless you are a meteorologist, in which case I’d love to pick your brains about the science.

Unfortunately I’ve imbued enough liquor to make all attempts at conclusion futile. It seemed such a good idea at the beginning, to start typing. And spellcheck certainly gives the illusion of some semblance of sobriety, but this is not the case. So instead I’ll stop here and post. I think I’m drunk enough to do that, though I may regret it later.

Good night.

Bring Splendor Back to Byron, Online Campaign

admin — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:26:05 +0000

If this link hasn’t hit your INBOX already here it is:

http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=3209

On this page, you can submit your support for the Cultural Events Site Concept Plan directly to the council. The more submissions, the more likely we’ll see our great local festivals stick around!

The Concept Plan incorporates:
- approval for the site to be used for cultural, educational and outdoor events with associated camping;
- a cultural centre;
- a conference centre and associated accommodation;
- camping infrastructure and facilities; and
- a comprehensive vegetation management plan.

Officially a Local: Byron Bay Bay Local Free Parking!

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:27:23 +0000

Well it’s official. After banging around town for a couple of years and buying a house here in 2009, I’m officially a local. After sending my car registration (via email) to the council offices, I have been awarded the coveted local parking sticker for the main beaches. No longer do I need to feed the ticket machine all my spare gold coins! This summer is looking better and better by the day.

In other news, Richard Branson recently declared in an interview that Byron Bay was his best holiday in recent memory and that Rae’s on Watego’s his favourite hotel. Nice!

Targa Restaurant, Byron Bay - Review

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 13:01:36 +0000

Ben Musu and his partner Sarah have been going from strength to strength having successfully owned and operated renowned coffee hotspot Bayleaf Cafe, the newly prestigious St Elmo bar and now Targa in the new building corner of Marvell and Middleton street.

While St Elmo aims for the “high end” of the market with it’s service, style and well.. pricing, Targa manages to maintaing the former without being too hard on the latter.

I decided to go last friday, it’s opening weekend, and tried the Ossobucco Veal dish and a hearty glass of Italian wine (the name of which escapes me now). My companions got stuck into the Chick Pea pasta and the Sirloin, both of which were by all accounts apparently excellent. Now I don’t know whether it was the wine, but the veal was amazing. Rich italian flavours and stylings I’m unfamiliar with and that impressed me greatly.

The corner building is small, and the full house crowd meant we had to raise our voices to have a conversation, but I’m not sure if this was an opening night phenomena, or will be the tone in general. Either way, it was a nice vibe, just not the right time / place for a deep and meaningful discussion with my fellows.

So far, Targa has been a busy place since it’s opened with positive reviews from the locals. I’m booking a table next weekend.

RC Quadrocopter Footage over Byron Bay Surf Break

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:46:27 +0000

Just had to post this rad vision from “rc-video.org” of surfers at Broken Head, Byron Bay.

Quadrocopter Video Piloting - Surfing - Byron Bay Australia from rc-video.org on Vimeo.

Surf action on Saturday 10/7/10 at Broken Head, Byron Bay, Australia

Broken Head is the right hand point break at the southern end of Tallow Beach. It is a world class, sand bottom, long right hand wave.

The swell was up, but the rides were not particularly long.