Author: Nathan Campbell

Nathan runs St Eutychus. He loves Jesus. His wife. His daughter. His son. His other daughter. His dog. Coffee. And the Internet. He is the pastor of City South Presbyterian Church, a church in Brisbane, a graduate of Queensland Theological College (M. Div) and the Queensland University of Technology (B. Journ). He spent a significant portion of his pre-ministry-as-a-full-time-job life working in Public Relations, and now loves promoting Jesus in Brisbane and online. He can't believe how great it is that people pay him to talk and think about Jesus. If you'd like to support his writing financially you can do that by giving to his church.

Mind map

Apparently in the past you could visualise the relationship between different streams of science by tracking the references and citations in scientific journals.

You got something like this:

Now, because most scientific journals are posted online research has been conducted into deeper, broader connections between journals. Using the method described here:

“Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we collected nearly 1 billion user interactions recorded by the scholarly web portals of some of the most significant publishers, aggregators and institutional consortia. The resulting reference data set covers a significant part of world-wide use of scholarly web portals in 2006, and provides a balanced coverage of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.”

It’s only really interesting because it produces a picture like this…

Kevin Kelly simplifies the research methodology into easier to understand terminology.

“Instead of mapping links, this new method maps clicks. The program reads the logs of the servers offering online journals (the most popular way to get articles today) and records the clickstream of a researcher as they hop from one article to the next.”

March 17, 2009

Pictures and words

picture-paints-1000-words

Gordo has issued the challenge to demonstrate how a picture can paint 1000 words. There’s my entry.

Also, I’m preaching this weekend and here’s a thousand words painting a picture of what my sermon is all about thanks to Wordle:

1john2-sermon-wordle

March 17, 2009

The Costa Coffee

A British coffee taster has insured his prime asset for $14 million. His tongue. So he’ll no doubt be steering clear of overly hot coffees from now on. From the ABC.

“Gennaro Pelliccia is the chief taster for Costa Coffee and tastes every batch of raw coffee beans the company uses.
He says his 18 years of experience in the industry has made his tongue a valuable asset.”

March 17, 2009

Caffeine Hit

Ever wondered just how much caffeine is in your morning cuppa? No? Well, I have, so this article was interesting to me.

Apparently Robusta has twice the caffeine content of the much nicer Arabica. It also produces a better crema – but tastes like burnt rubber (kudos to Coffee Dominion for that description). I wonder if there’s a link between caffeine content and crema?

Anyway. Here are some figures from the article by Jerry Baldwin – one of the cofounders of Starbucks (he sold his share in 1987).

“In a couple of studies testing 90 different Arabica cultivars, the caffeine content varied between 0.42 and 2.9%. My morning cup would then vary between 84 and 580 milligrams, depending on which of these varieties was in my cup.”

“If your morning cup came from a commercial roaster who included Robusta in the blend, we have another level of complexity. Caffeine content in these coffees, in one study, varied between 1.16 and 4.0%. A straight 12 oz. cup, using 20 grams of the 4% coffee, probably wouldn’t taste very good, but would definitely provide more buzz: 800 milligrams of caffeine.”

“An espresso made from 100% Arabica, on average, has about 70 milligrams of caffeine per shot; a 12 oz. cup of drip coffee made my way in a press pot, using two scoops of coffee per 12-ounce cup — would have 200 milligrams.”

March 17, 2009

YouTube Tuesday: Super Smashing Pumpkins Brothers

The Smashing Pumpkins have been one of my favourite bands since Ben introduced me to them in grade 11. He incessantly talked about them. They were impossible to avoid.

Super Mario Brothers is one of my favourite games of all time. How can you not enjoy taking the guise of a plumber and running around a world full of walking fungus and drain pipes filled with treasure?

So combining the two is pure awesomeness.

March 17, 2009

No Beard? Darn it

I’ve always wanted a beard. I mean, who wouldn’t. Shaving is a pain in the neck. But alas, unlike my facially hirsute father I am follicly challenged on the lower part of my head rather than the top. But now, thanks to the miracles of modern knitting technology “I can hast beard”… and can even order a moustache to match every occasion. I give you. The Beardhead.

March 17, 2009

Interior Design: Putting the pieces together

Robyn loves a good puzzle. So no doubt if she had her way our house would be decked out with this sort of classy furniture. They’re available for an unspecified but no doubt expensive price from here.

Me, well, apparently I’m a nerd (or a geek) so I’d be more likely to deck our place out with these chairs of retro gaming awesomeness. Pacman eat your heart out.

March 17, 2009

What is news

Here’s a little quote I found from England’s media baron (Lord actually) and father of tabloid journalism Alfred Harmsworth that is vaguely relevant to the discussion about persuasion, influence and manipulation and says a lot about the nature of news and PR.

“News is something someone wants suppressed. Everything else is just advertising.”

There are a heap of journalism quotes here.

March 17, 2009

Bear necessities

If you go down to the woods today and you’re short of a bear disguise – how bout this sleeping bag? It’s sure to keep pesky nocturnal intruders away – and ensure your picnic basket doesn’t get pinched. If you want one you have to email the designer.

March 17, 2009

Magic storage solution

So you’re a budding magician – or someone with a swordid past. And you’re looking for a novel solution to storing all your tricks and miscellaneous items. Well. Look no further. Get them before they disappear. Actually – they’re just an illusion – a concept – waiting to be developed. This guy designed them.

Found here.

March 17, 2009

A bunch of links – March 16, 2009

March 16, 2009

Fruity protest

Here’s a novel protest against perennial protesters Westboro Baptist (the hateful “God Hates Fags” mob).

It’s pretty Biblically sound – but the Bible has a fair bit to say about homosexuality and sin.

March 16, 2009

laughometer

The funnyometer. I rate my own blog “haha”. Your thoughts?

March 16, 2009

Perspective

Further to the one trillion dollars visualisation I posted the other day Mint.com has produced a bunch of images putting a little perspective on the size of the bailout. Like this one.

March 16, 2009

Let them eat cake

If you want to resign in style perhaps take a leaf out of this guy’s book (from Flickr) and bake your notice of resignation into a cake.

The written message on the icing says:

“Dear Mr. Bowers,

During the past three years, my tenure at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has been nothing short of pure excitement, joy and whim.

However, I have decided to spend more time with my family and attend to health issues that have recently arisen. I am proud to have been part of such an outstanding team and I wish this organization only the finest in future endeavors.

Please accept this cake as notification that I am leaving my position with NWT on March 27.

Sincerely,

W. Neil berrett”

Found here.

March 16, 2009