The best bits – January 27, 2009

Here's what has excited me from the blogosphere today.

January 27, 2009

The best bits – January 26, 2009

Here's what has excited me from the blogosphere today.

January 26, 2009

Six easy steps to speaking like Obama

Interesting little article from the SMH on Obama’s oratory and the elements of a good speech. Which, according to a Sydney businessman who plans to make money offering a course on how to imitate Obama, actually come out of his writing style first and foremost.

This guy’s theory is based on an analysis of Obama’s books – and the common elements he finds between books and speeches  are as follows:

a) Clarity – simple english, easy to understand vocab and short sentences.
b) Tone – not vocal pitch but the “voice” in which you establish yourself – for Obama that meant a blend of self deprecation and confidence.
c) Nuance – explaining complexity with a simple turn of phrase and picking up on subtleties, tying them together and presenting a strong case in the listeners mind.
d) Poetry – the use of metaphor, a poetic voice and literary tools to create a sense of more than just straightforward prose or buzzword filled jargon.
e) Rhythm – developing a common refrain like “yes we can” that links ideas into a broader narrative and develops catch cry status.

The sixth point was a bonus/afterthought. It’s the idea that infusing your messaging with religious imagery and undertones will add that extra touch of inspiration. I guess that’s one that’s particularly transferable to the pulpit. 

Clarity is the low hanging fruit – and the most important element for any piece of communication. It’s also where so many politicians and speakers fall over. If people can’t figure out what it is you want them to know it doesn’t matter how beautifully phrased it is or what sort of rhythm you develop.  It just won’t stick.

January 25, 2009

Bird’s eye view

We’ve been watching a lot of tennis lately. Tennis is one of those games that you watch and find yourself thinking “it doesn’t look that hard” which progresses to “we should do that for a job.” The answer to those statements is “it is” and “we shouldn’t”. 

I did have tennis lessons as a child. I spent more time running punishment laps of the tennis court than holding a racquet – and subsequently don’t know my forehand from my forehead. Robyn is much more proficient when it comes to the skills involved but I’ve got the edge on brute strength and am prone to hitting the ball as hard as I can male, so we’re pretty evenly matched when we play. The Australian Open inspires a renewed vigour for the game every year – last year we bought racquets so maybe this year we’ll buy some sweat bands or something.

But I digress. I wanted to mention Hawkeye – which is an interesting case of technology driven by television companies being integrated into sport. Traditionally television companies interactions with sport have been to the detriment of tradition – eg World Series Cricket, Super League and 20/20 cricket.

Progress is not always good. Especially when it comes to eliminating human error in judicial administration of the rules of the game.

Cricket coverage lead the way in terms of calling umpire’s decisions into question – snicko, cricket’s hawkeye for LBWs, and hotspot – not to mention ultra slow motion repetitions of run out decisions.

The bane of Rugby League watching in recent years has been the time taken for video referee decisions.  

The desire for accuracy is in my mind an imperative based not on ensuring the players get a fair go – but insuring that the punters do. I mean punters in the literal “gambling” sense – not just fans. The amount of money riding on every game of professional sport could fund the bailout of a small financial institution so it’s increasingly important to get things right.

Robyn is all for Hawkeye in tennis – she says it encourages players to boldly aim for the lines – knowing they can make a challenge if a call doesn’t go the right way. I’m not sold, and neither it seems are the players. Particularly after hawkeye was thawrted by a bit of shade today.

Two final comments on this long post – firstly – did you know Hawkeye was invented by a man named Hawkins? I always thought the name was based on hawk’s legendary optic capacity and the fact that you’re getting a “birds eye view”. 

Secondly, I think Birdseye’s decision to sponsor Hawkeye was a brilliant piece of product endorsement. 

Here endeth the lesson.

January 25, 2009

Wombat stew

Joel – long time commenter round these parts – has – in a stroke of genius – decided to keep his blog running post PNG prac trip. It’s quite good even if it is written with the smug sense of superiority that comes from being a fully qualified doctor of medicine. It’s called wombat rock and you’ll find it here. Here’s a sample from his latest post to whet your appetite…

“Americans make rubbish cars. We know it. They know it. Nobody is trying to hide it. If they weren’t such a patriotic bunch American car manufacturers would have gone out of business after one look at a Mercedes or Volkswagon, or even a Toyota or a Honda. It seems the ability to win wars is inversely proportional to the ability to make good cars.” 

January 25, 2009

Comic Relief

comic relief

comic relief

If you want to make super awesome instructional comic strips – or create stories with questionable rights to your own intellectual property – then check out this easy to use comic creator.

January 25, 2009

The best bits – January 25, 2009

Here's what has excited me from the blogosphere today.

January 25, 2009

Separated at Birth: scorpion guy

The guy on the left, Majed Elmak, holds the world record for “most scorpions in the mouth”. I reckon he’s a dead ringer for my friend James (who does actually read this blog so if you’re going to comment say nice things). Could they be twins?

January 24, 2009

Black spot on clean feed

I’ve said it once. And I’ll say it again. The clean feed is bad for anyone who believes in freedom of speech. I think it’s especially important for Christians – who are one of the driving forces behind the clean feed concept – to know what it is they’re supporting in the case of this policy.

The government’s internet watchdog – ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority) can blacklist whatever they want. It doesn’t have to be “objectionable” content (read child abuse material) – unless the government definition of “child” now extends to an unborn fetus – which would have grand implications for the abortion debate. You see an abortion protest site has just been added to the blacklist – as reported by Crikey. 

This content is hosted outside Australia, outside ACMA’s jurisdiction, so they can’t demand it be taken down or guarded by an age-verification mechanism. They can only add it to the blacklist — and under Conroy’s plan, everything on the blacklist is blocked, secretly, for all Australians. No choice.

“The Government does not view this debate as an argument about freedom of speech,” says Senator Conroy.”

No, of course not. As the government has pointed out, it’s about preventing the exploitation of children. A noble cause. It’s when the government refuses to allow criticism on the policy on the basis that anyone objecting is tacitly approving of the child abuse that the discussion breaks down.

“”Freedom of speech is fundamentally important in a democratic society and there has never been any suggestion that the Australian Government would seek to block political content.” Conroy said here. 

Well yes there has Senator – that’s been the grounds of all the rational objections to your stupid, and technologically flawed, legislation (well that and the fact that it’s unlikely to work and it’s just going to punish everyday users of the Internet… ). 

The abortion site is pretty nasty. While I agree that abortion is one of the great moral debates of our time, I wouldn’t recommend going there. I did. It wasn’t pretty. But that’s not the point. Once “objectionable” includes “things we disagree with” the Liberal Party better make sure their policies are consistent with Labor’s, or they’ll be banned.

January 24, 2009

Spam, spam, spam, bacon, and spam please


My blog is drowning in a sea of spam comments – 140 of them in the last day or so, most promoting wonder drugs and most posted on the garage sailing liveblog post.

January 24, 2009

The best bits – January 24, 2009

January 24, 2009

Late night ramble

We just enjoyed watching Safin v Federer in the third round of the Australian Open. I am a Safin fan, and I like Federer and Robyn is a Federer fan and likes Safin so it was a fun game to watch. It should have gone for longer but I’m glad it didn’t because now it’s late and time for bed. 

But before bed I’d like to plug Chris’s new blog. He’s called it “toph-online” probably because he still wants us to call him “Toph”. Anyway, it’s two days old and he’s mostly blogged about Obama – but who hasn’t mostly blogged about Obama this week. Welcome to the blogosphere Chris. Here’s a cheap plug.

January 23, 2009

Arrested Development

Here’s a great moral question for today… if your child caused you to be thrown into prison would you still love them?

A Canadian  father is faced with that dilemma after his 11 month old baby inadvertently caused his arrest by placing a 911 call while playing with the family phone… from the SMH… this is one baby that will grow up with a significant guilt complex.

“A baby playing with a telephone inadvertently called police to his house in westernmost Canada and to his “very surprised” father’s marijuana-growing operation inside, police say.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police responded to an emergency 911 call in which the caller hung up without saying a word, Constable Janelle Canning told AFP on Wednesday.

The officers entered the White Rock residence, after knocks at the door went unanswered, she said.

“The father was very surprised to see us and insisted he hadn’t called police,” she said.

“The officers then observed his 11-month-old child playing with a cordless phone, pressing buttons randomly.”

The mystery caller was identified, she said. “It appears the baby called us.”

During a routine search of the house, the officers also uncovered 500 marijuana plants in two locked rooms on the main floor.

The 29-year-old father was arrested and faces charges of production of a controlled substance and mischief. He is to appear in court in April.

The baby boy was removed from the home by the Ministry of Children and Family, and was later released into his mother’s custody.”

So, when this father gets out of jail and his son is in his early teens that’s going to be one awkward reunion.

January 23, 2009

Posted on bail

There’s a list of things you shouldn’t do if you’re a major company that has received a government bailout. At the top of that list is taking out advertisements in major (expensive) publications thanking people for the generosity that was foisted on them by government distribution of tax dollars.

People are pretty unhappy that they have to bail out big companies from their own pockets. So if you book out a full page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal – you’re going to cop some flack. As Chrysler learned the hard way. Here’s a page full of feedback from its blog (which was pulled so this is the google cached version). And here’s a sample…

“Depending on placement, full page ads placed in the Wall Street journal can cost over $200,000, not to mention the other publications where this ad was placed. So, at least a quarter of a million dollars of our money was spent on an ad thanking us for our contribution. A contribution that the majority did not want to make. This ad screams “Hey, look what we are doing with your tax dollars, lol.” This ad is yet another example of frivolous and clueless spending. Thank us by using OUR money to make your company profitable, not with a meaningless ad. As the old saying goes,”Actions speak louder than words.”

January 23, 2009

The best bits – January 23, 2009

Here's what has excited me from the blogosphere today.

January 23, 2009