I'm an Australian, based in the Washington, DC, area of the United States. I spend a lot of time there with Jasmine, Australia's best-known speedsolver of the Rubik's Cube. Prior to the US, Jasmine and I were based in London, UK. We have also lived previously in the United States and Australia.
I have worked for an Australian business rules and compliance company since 1999 in Australia, the US and the UK. I have also lectured in IT and Law related topics at King's College, London, and at The Australian National University.
I have some more information and a list of publications available (pop-up window).
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- February 2007
- January 2007
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These are a few of my favourite links:
- Jasmine's site
- Jasmine's blog
- Mikal
- Daveydweeb
- Beth
- Lyn
- Doug
- Marissa
- Lisaloha
- David (Greenomics)
- Paul's Ramblings (music)
Hits since 1 Sep 2004
500902
Site design by Jasmine
Thu, 29 Dec 2005 [Australian eastern time]
[/Cyberspace/IP] permanent link
Google and the Death of the Book
The online Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article on the topic "A new chapter in the death of the book," by Peter Martin.
The article describes efforts by various companies -- Google, Microsoft, Amazon -- to digitise and catalogue the contents of books. The idea is that traditional book catalogues are very limited in their ability to direct readers to content within a book because they only refer the author, title and a limited number of subjective classifications. Allowing searches of the entire contents of a book would make it much easier to find content in books.
In a lot of ways, this is a good idea. When I was at university, I studied a lot of history and a lot of law. Legal research was relatively easy because of the array of commercial research tools from vendors like LexisNexis and Thomson which indexed legal material from cases to articles. Historical research was much more complicated as there was no commercial demand for serious indexing. I regularly used to grab a pile of about 35 library books and load them into a car so I could sift through them at home. Basically, the Google idea is to make books more accessible and useful by allowing us to search them as we search the web.
The problem is that the publishing industry is up in arms about the threat it sees to its copyright. Microsoft and Amazon have been sensitive to this, by only scanning books that are out of copyright or for which they have obtained permission. The Google approach is different -- it plans to scan everything:
Right now in the Oxford University Library, the New York Public Library and the libraries of three US universities, staff are busy removing books from the shelves row by row and loading them onto trolleys for delivery to special centres where their entire contents are scanned and loaded into a computer.
Unfortunately for Google, it is less than clear that current copyright law will support what it is doing.
Google's efforts have raised one of those interesting conundrums we find when digital technology challenges our way of thinking about intellectual property. According to the Herald article:
If Google loses, those of us who love looking up books will lose. But I would also suggest that books themselves will lose. If books can't be searched when other sources of information can, over time books will become less important. They'll stay unsearched on library shelves and in the back of lounge room bookcases.
It will be interesting to see how this issue plays itself out.
Wed, 28 Dec 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Back in Australia, December 2005-January 2006
Jasmine and I are back in Australia! We arrived back in Canberra on Christmas Eve. We will be flying out again in a few weeks.
It's good to get some sun and some hot weather. We prefer the weather at this time of year in Australia to England! It will also be good to catch up with friends and family, and we will do some work here as well.
Tue, 27 Dec 2005 [Australian eastern time]After a very long absence, I've started working on this blog again. I have just spent quite a bit of time working on a new system for comments to avoid the huge comment spam issues I was having previously. I will shortly migrate messages from the old comments system over to the new one.
I will also shortly post an update on some of the exciting things I have been up to over the past several months!
Mon, 15 Aug 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Hilarious animation: why supervillains prefer Linux
It seems that supervillains prefer Linux, at least according to this amusing animation (found via Slashdot).
Momentum building for my brother's book?
Is momentum building on the internet to publicise my brother's book? It seems the book is being listed on plenty of websites.
Maybe I should try to think of something interesting I do so I can write a book, too!
One thing I am actually planning to do is link to various articles and my Honours thesis (once I have got hold of an electronic copy from Australia). See the link under 'About me' in the sidebar to the left of this page for more.
Sun, 14 Aug 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Comment spammers are bad people
Over the past several weeks, I have been getting an increasing amount of comment spam to this site. Some of the spammers have been quite persistent, too -- advertising porn and gambling sites in comments almost as fast as I could delete them. Hopefully, I have now fixed the problem. After an afternoon of experimentation today, comments on this site are now being filtered, and attempted posts that run foul of the filter never appear. I might do some further work to present an acid message to users when comments are rejected.
The company where I work has rebranded itself, from SoftLaw to RuleBurst®. The new RuleBurst name better reflects what the company does -- modelling complex rules for analysis and computer execution. See the company's website for more about the name change.
Mon, 01 Aug 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Employee involvement in cost-cutting: an interesting article about American Airlines
Over the weekend, I came across an interesting article in The Christian Science Monitor (via Boing Boing) which shows that corporate cost-control can be about empowering employees to a much greater extent than the media often suggests. The article's (quite compelling, I think) suggestion is that when companies need to get their costs of doing business down, management needs first to instil awareness of the issue throughout the company, and then to be receptive to employees' suggestions about potential efficiencies.
The article is based on the experience of American Airlines, which has recently returned to profitability after five years of losses:
Two American Airlines mechanics didn't like having to toss out $200 drill bits once they got dull. So they rigged up some old machine parts - a vacuum-cleaner belt and a motor from a science project - and built "Thumping Ralph." It's essentially a drill-bit sharpener that allows them to get more use out of each bit. The savings, according to the company: as much as $300,000 a year.
And it was a group of pilots who realized that they could taxi just as safely with one engine as with two. That was instituted as policy has helped cut American's fuel consumption even as prices have continued to rise to record levels.
...
While the other so-called legacy carriers are also slashing labor costs and increasing efficiency in an effort to compete with successful low-cost airlines, American has been the most aggressive in emulating the positive employee relations of low-cost rivals. Indeed, when American's management intensified its cost-saving efforts, it didn't turn to high-priced outside consultants. Rather, it asked its employees, since they do their jobs day in and out and know them probably better than anyone else.
There are probably a couple of reasons for involving employees heavily: first, their experience working at a detailed level in the business; and second, good employer-employee relationships are less likely to result in industrial action.
Sun, 31 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Photos from Rubik's Cube 25th Anniversary celebration
Jasmine has posted some photos I took at the Rubik's Cube 25th Anniversary event at Hamley's on Regent Street last Tuesday. She has a selection on her blog, which links to a bigger collection elsewhere on her site.
Sat, 30 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time]I always suspected that Apple Computer must have been a figment of someone's over-active imagination. Now, Microsoft has proved this to be the case.
According to ABC (Australia) news:
Apple Computer does not exist in rival Microsoft's Virtual Earth mapping program.
The program, which was launched onto the Internet by US software giant Microsoft, promises to deliver aerial views of any home or business in the nation.
But it shows an empty lot where Apple Computer has its Silicon Valley campus.
Do I need to stop using my iPod if Apple doesn't exist?
What will Michael's ImageMagick book be like?
My brother, Michael, is writing a book. It's about ImageMagick, whatever that is -- not really my scene. He recently noticed that the book has been listed on Amazon, even though he has not handed the manuscript over to the publisher yet.
Hopefully, Michael's foray into book publishing will not be inspired by some of his other comments on the literary form. For example, he seems quite inspired by the bad writing contest that is held at San Jose University.
Actually, I'm sure his book will be fine.
Tue, 26 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Jasmine is an international media megastar!
Jasmine leads a much more exciting and glamorous life than I do! Her current burst of fame is part of the Rubik's Cube Twenty-Fifth Anniversary celebrations in London.
Jasmine was interviewed for a full-page colour article, published today (Monday, 25 July, in London), about her Rubik's Cube skills.
She also has a huge day of media stardom planned for Tuesday, 26 July (UK time). Her plan for Tuesday includes TV interviews on CNN, ITV1 and the ITV News Channel. After that, she's off as a special invitee to the Rubik's party at Hamley's on Regent Street.
Mon, 25 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
London pirate radio of the 1980s
Someone mentioned a weird Sigue Sigue Sputnik remix to me the other day. The remix had originated on London pirate radio in the 1980s.
I had never thought much about pirate radio, except perhaps in the episode of The Goodies where the team sets up its own pirate radio station (which only ever played "A Walk in the Black Forest" by Engelbert Humperdink) just off the UK coastline. However, I had a look around online over the weekend, and found an interesting page talking about a London pirate station from the 1980s, Radio Duck.
I love the site's description of the Radio Duck setup:
During ON-AIR time, the station consisted of a small transmitter, a 12 volt car battery, a car cassette player (modified), an aerial and a tree. The rig was on a timer so the station members could be safely down the pub in case the DTI fancied a raid. The shows were pre-recorded on 1/4" reel to reel tape, then copied to a C120 cassette. The cassette player played the left channel of side one, then auto-reversed to play the left channel of side two. Then it auto-reversed again to play the right channel of side one, and finally the right of side two. A whole four hours of broadcast from one cassette! Ingenious.
I suppose no one would ever go to these lengths today because it's so easy to propagate music online, without having to worry about wrapping wire antennas around trees.
Fri, 22 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
I've had various emails from people, so I thought it would be worth saying briefly that Jasmine and I were not at all affected by the latest incidents in London.
Sun, 17 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Are you younger than you think?
I was channel surfing at home last night, when I came across a show on BBC1 called Are You Younger Than You Think? The show itself was pretty tedious and silly -- at least the few minutes I endured were -- but there is a tie-in online test that lets you compare your actual (calendar) age with your "real age" based on various lifestyle and health factors.
It turns out that I am ageing pretty well (my body is 1.6 years older than my "real age" based on lifestyle and health factors). The site's recommendations for doing even better included flossing more regularly and drinking more alcohol!
Sat, 16 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Thanks to everyone who got in touch
Thanks to everyone who got in touch after the July 7 bombings to check Jasmine and I were OK. Things are much more normal in London now -- even in most of the area where we live, right near Edgware Road Station (one of the bomb sites). There are still a lot of signs of what happened, and people are a bit jittery, but London is keeping going.
Jasmine and I have been thinking of posting more on this topic, so we might publish some more thoughts over the next few days.
Thu, 07 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Jasmine and I are OK after the terrorist attack on London
For any friends and family wanting to check on us, Jasmine and I are OK after the terrorist attack on London this morning.
Mon, 04 Jul 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Back in London
I'm now back in London after my whirlwind travels of the past
few weeks, which included a conference in
Amsterdam and a two-week business trip through several states of the United
States, with a quick side-trip to Canada. I am writing this entry early on
Monday morning, 4 July, in London, having slept what seems like almost all of
the time since I got back to Heathrow on Saturday night.
One of my first experiences of London upon returning was the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park. Unfortunately, I didn't quite get into the spirit of the concert, for two reasons:
- Jet lag and an urgent need to sleep. This was caused partly by the eight hours in time zones I had just crossed, partly by a busy few weeks, and partly by a toddler that kept screaming and kicking me on a red-eye connecting flight en route back to London.
- The London Live 8 concert was held in Hyde Park. This did not help with my solution to problem (i), above, as Hyde Park borders a number of residential areas in London, including the one where I live.
Having said all that, I do think Live 8 was a good idea... and it was typical of my timing that I was out of London for all but the closing stages of the concert, and also for the tennis at Wimbledon, which was held very close to my London office. Jasmine tells me that there were 500,000 extra people in London over the weekend thanks to these events.
Stay tuned for further updates now that I'm no longer on the road and can put stuff on this site again!
Fri, 24 Jun 2005 [Australian eastern time]I just thought I should point out that I have not forgotten or abandoned this website, in spite of weeks of silence. I'm just having a crazy time with work travel: a conference in Amsterdam, and now meetings in the US and Canada. I'm writing this from a hotel room in Ottawa, and I promise to put some actual content on the site once I have had some sleep and a chance to collect some thoughts -- hopefully soon!
Sun, 05 Jun 2005 [Australian eastern time][/Credit where it's due] permanent link
Cooking trout in the dishwasher
I just found this cool link about cooking fish in the dishwasher (via a post on Mikal's site). This is an idea that's so stupid it's excellent!
It reminds me of some stuff I heard years ago about Americans cooking food in their car's engine bays. Here's a link about cooking shrimp in an engine bay, which I just found via Google.
Sun, 29 May 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
United Kingdom's hottest day in May since 1953
London was pretty warm, by London standards, last Friday. The temperature hit 31°C -- the hottest day in May in the United Kingdom since 1953.
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Advertising in pubs for the priesthood
The Catholic Church in the Diocese of Westminster is concerned about the decline in its population of priests. The solution, according to a BBC article:
The Church is launching a recruitment campaign that will use beermats in pubs and posters on the London Underground to promote the priesthood.
The Church would want to pick the right pubs, lest it end up with a bunch of beer-swilling football louts delivering communion.
Thu, 26 May 2005 [Australian eastern time]I got an email from an American friend today about Paris Hilton's television advertisement for the Carl's Jr. burger chain. My friend bemoaned what he saw as the prudishness of American television standards, which has led to a widely reported controversy over the advertisement.
The ad features Paris Hilton in a swimsuit, washing a Bentley car, and herself, and then biting into a burger. The ad is suggestive, but not actually graphic because Paris remains in the swimsuit.
I can see how the ad would be controversial for its portrayal of a woman as an object (although I'm sure Paris' involvement was a calculated business move). However, this does not seem to be the track that the American public debate is taking. According to a CNN/Money article about the controversy:
[Melissa] Caldwell [representing the Parents Television Council] says that because the ad is airing during sports programs, and FOX's "OC", which are heavily watched by teens, it promotes sexuality to an audience that might not be ready for it. "It's difficult to gauge how children are going to react to this," Caldwell said.
The concern seems to be about promoting sexual activity, not about the much more subtle and complex question of how women are portrayed in the media, and the extent to which they are still often objectified. Arguably, people would benefit much more from critically considering issues such as media portrayals of women and the effects of such portrayals on people's thinking than they will benefit from shuddering at any hint of sexual activity.
The debate over the Paris Hilton ad is not the only demonstration of the United States' debate about media standards being overly simplistic. Another recent example involves Nicolette Sheridan from Desperate Housewives and an ad aired prior to an episode of Monday Night Football. In the ad, Sheridan appeared clad in a towel in a dressing room with Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens. Sheridan dropped the towel to the floor to grab Owens' attention, but television viewers caught only a glimpse of her back. In this case, too, there was a vociferous public debate -- but it again centered around the question of basic indecency rather than anything more complex.
On a much more basic level, the controversy in the US is notable because in many television markets content is far more explicit than in Paris' advertisement. For example, British television frequently features nudity -- and even aired (carefully selected) excerpts from Paris Hilton's infamous home video. The Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl was replayed in many countries around the world without any blurring or censorship at all.
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Doug came to visit on the weekend. Jasmine, Doug and I met up with some friends from Canberra who were visiting London, went to a party at Jasmine's and my boss' house and went to the Camden Markets for lunch the next day before Doug had to head home to Cambridge. Doug has put an account of the weekend and a picture of the shoes he bought at the Camden Markets online. (Doug's permanent links don't seem to be working properly, so you might need to scroll down to Doug's entries for 23 May and 24 May.)
Mon, 23 May 2005 [Australian eastern time][/Credit where it's due] permanent link
I just had a look at Jasmine's Beginner Solution to the Rubik's Cube. I still feel like I should make the effort to learn her cube solution properly at some point (I can only partially solve the cube at present). I was impressed to see that Jasmine has had 53,909 hits to the Beginner's Solution... so many cubers!
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Abandoned stations of the London Underground
Jasmine, Doug (who was visiting Jasmine and me for the weekend from Cambridge) and I had a discussion earlier today (Sunday, 22 May, UK time) about abandoned stations on the London Underground rail network. After Doug left us to return to Cambridge, I found this interesting website on the topic of abandoned stations.
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Inspired (well, I was anyway) by the news that 30% of London is occupied by green space, Jasmine and I went for a walk to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens today. The gardens there are looking much better than a few months ago -- because now there are leaves!
I am also enjoying the late sunlight here. Sunset today (Sunday, 22 May, in the UK) is not till 8:54 p.m. And although there are lots of grey patches during the day, there are also some good patches of sun.
Thu, 19 May 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
A less publicised side of London
Although Jasmine and I have lived in London for a few months now and had visited before, all our time in the city up till now has been during winter. Winter may not have shown London at its best: although other cities where we have lived (e.g. Canberra and Washington, DC) are colder, the London winter is pretty windy, damp and miserable.
Jasmine has commented that one thing she misses about Canberra in particular is the amount of greenery and open space there. London is obviously much more built-up than Canberra. However, we were amazed to read in Qantas' in-flight magazine en route back to London, that London is supposed to be the greenest capital city in the world, with 30 per cent of its space devoted to parks and gardens. Perhaps Jasmine and I had missed a lot of the parks and gardens in the past because in winter there were no leaves to make everything green! However, native Londoners we have spoken to since have also been surprised by the 30 per cent claim.
At any rate, the moral of this story is that as the weather warms up in London, Jasmine and I should get out and enjoy some of the greenery!
Wed, 18 May 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Arlington, Virginia: walking capital of America
While heading back to London at the weekend, I found a brief article about Arlington, Virginia, in a copy of the London Times that I picked up in a Bangkok airport lounge. Arlington was my base for the couple of years I spent in the United States.
According to The Times' article, America's Podiatric Medical Association has found Arlington to be the United States' favourite city for walking, based on a survey of 200 cities. Attractions like the sprawling Arlington National Cemetery add to Arlington's pedestrian appeal. The American report is meant, according to the Times to '[encourage] overweight Americans to "go out and do some exercise"'.
I have not looked up the original survey report online. However, I wonder whether it is talking about walking as a form of recreation, rather than as a means of transport from A to B. I wonder whether it is really encouraging people to make their way (by car or other means) to a location and then go for a walk.
While Arlington has plenty of places (like the cemetery) which are great for recreational walking, if you make the effort to get there, it's not a great place to get around as a pedestrian -- at least once you get away from Wilson Boulevard, one of the main strips through Arlington. And part of the reason for many Americans' lack of exercise must be the fact that they do not get much exercise in the course of daily activities -- like getting around town. In cities like London (or New York in the United States), walking is often the best way to make a short trip due to a combination of good pedestrian routes and congestion associated with other forms of transport. In Arlington, it's clear that pedestrians were a low priority when the streets were laid out and it's difficult to make some trips as a pedestrian due to the lack of safe pedestrian routes through much of Arlington County. The amazing suburban sprawl around many American cities also doesn't help.
According to the Times article, the least favourite walking cities in the US survey were Brownsville and Laredo, both in Texas. As the newspaper pointed out, "the people there are probably all on horses".
Tue, 17 May 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Back in the United Kingdom after our visit to Australia
Jasmine and I are back in the United Kingdom after a great few weeks in Australia, where we caught up with a lot of friends and family members. We are already making a start back at work in London. Stay tuned for more details once we have settled back in and recovered properly from the long flight over here!
Tue, 10 May 2005 [Australian eastern time][/Popular culture] permanent link
Friends in Sydney suggested to me over the weekend that I may be the only person in the world who has:
- not read anything by Dan Brown (author of The Da Vinci Code);
- not seen the film Titanic; and
- not yet finished the fifth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
I'm pretty good at obscure entertainment references -- but obviously less good at the stuff everyone (except me) knows!
Update: OK, maybe I'm not unique. My brother, Michael, saw this post and responds:
Peter hasn't read anything by Dan Brown, seen Titanic, or finished the last book in the Harry Potter series. I can go one better, I haven't done any of those things, ready any Harry Potter, seen any Harry Potter movies, read any of the Lord of the Rings, or seen any of the Lord of the Rings films.
So, it seems I am out of touch with the pulse of mass-market culture, but Michael has found a whole different planet where he can live. I think his planet involves Linux. He knows much more about Linux than I do.
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Visual history of music sampling
I just found this interesting article on Boing Boing. It links to a Java application that allows you to browse through an amazing network of identified samples in recorded music.
One of my old friends from The Australian National University has just started a blog called Bondurbia.
Current topics of discussion include Australian politics and, more importantly, Australian Idol and The X Factor.
The ANU Union Asian Bistro: never again
Last week, I gave my twin brother and sister, who are still at school in Canberra, a lift to a school debating competition. The venue was a lecture theatre at The Australian National University. The twins had not had dinner, so I thought I would get them something at the university.
We went to the Asian Bistro in the ANU Union Building. Big mistake.
I travel a lot -- all around the world. I eat out all the time, in all different price and quality brackets. And even with all this experience to use for comparison, it was spectacular to see how poor the Asian Bistro is.
As the twins served themselves from the buffet, we could see the food congealing away. Some of it had a delightful film across the top. It's little wonder that at around 6 p.m. -- when one might expect a lot of students still to be around the campus -- there was hardly anyone in the room.
My sister wasn't very hungry, so she had a small plate of food -- about the size of a tea saucer -- and barely put any food on the plate. The bill for this plate alone was around A$7. David had a slightly larger plate but not very much food. His plate cost about A$9. Compare this with some of Canberra City's Chinese restaurants, where you can get a large plate of freshly prepared food, of much higher quality, brought to a table for only a little more than what we paid at the Asian Bistro.
Not to mention cheap Asian restaurants in places that should be far more expensive. Even in London, in the right part of town (e.g. around Tooting), we can get a sit-down main meal at an Indian restaurant for under £5 (A$12.50)... although, to be fair, you could also spend much more than that in other parts of London, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Sun, 01 May 2005 [Australian eastern time]I have finally responded to feedback from such luminaries as Jasmine and Beth and added a comments facility to this blog. It seems to work so far!
Is Canberra more expensive than it used to be?
Jasmine and I have now been back in Canberra for about nine days. I think I still have a hint of jetlag -- I've been waking up naturally early in the morning. People who know me will know that's pretty weird.
We have been having a great time here and spending a lot of time meeting people for lunch and dinner, trying to catch up during our limited time in the country before we head back to London. While we were living in Washington and London, we often thought about how expensive it was to eat out in those cities compared to Canberra -- but on this visit, we are both noticing that Canberra seems to be more expensive than we remembered from a year or two ago.
I can't work out whether we just had a nostalgic memory of Canberra while we were in London and Washington, or whether Canberra's eating-out scene has been changing, or whether we are just going to different (more expensive) cafés and restaurants this visit.
Sat, 23 Apr 2005 [Australian eastern time]My brother, Michael, has linked to this hilarious set of photos, which show some Linux-mascot penguins on their way home from a Linux conference that he helped organise.
Fri, 22 Apr 2005 [Australian eastern time][/Travel/Europe] permanent link
Czech Republic, and return visit to Australia
I'm typing this entry on a laptop at 30,000 feet, on Qantas Flight 2, somewhere between Bangkok and Sydney. Jasmine and I have just spent five days in Prague, in the Czech Republic, and now it's back to Australia for three weeks to catch up with family and friends. After that, we'll be heading back to the airport and returning to London.
We had a fantastic time in the Czech Republic, and it's definitely a place to which we would return, given the time and the opportunity.
The following are some photos I took during our stay, with some comments about what they show.
Above: The view across the Vltava River to the Lesser Town, featuring Prague's famous Charles Bridge in the foreground and the Castle and St Vitus' Cathedral in the background.
Above: The view across the Vltava River at night, taken from a similar viewpoint to the photo above.
Above: The famous Astronomical Clock in Prague's Old Town Square.
Above: The view across the Old Town Square at night, showing the Town Hall building.
Above: The view across the Old Town Square at night, taken looking away from the Town Hall Building, and looking up at the turrets of the Church of Our Lady Before Týn.
Above: Jasmine and I went on a day trip to the UNESCO-listed town of Kutná Hora. The most unusual thing we saw there was the Ossuary, in which the bones of 40,000 people are stored and displayed. The bones were collected in this way after an old cemetery (which had been very popular as it had been sprinkled with soil that pilgrims had brought back from the Holy Lands) had been closed. They were initially displayed in six pyramids, but in the 19th century, bones from two of the pyramids were fashioned into an array of decorations, including a famous chandelier, around the Ossuary building. The display of human remains in this way is meant to suggest that in death all people are equal. This photo shows the main view of the Ossuary just after entering, including the famous bone chandelier.
Above: This is one of the four pyramids of human bones that are still stored in the Ossuary. Note the decoration with a coat of arms fashioned from bones.
Above: These words are a memorial to the creator of the Ossuary in its current form.
Above: This is Prague's Television Tower, shot with a telephoto lens from Prague Castle. If you look closely you can see giant baby-shaped sculptures scaling the tower!
Above: This giant metronome sits on a hill overlooking Prague. It replaced a statue of Joseph Stalin that stood in this location during Communist rule. It's meant to demonstrate the passage of time, but Jasmine and I noticed that it seems to be switched off at night.
Above: Cookie Monster, who has accompanied me on most of my travels over the past couple of years, followed us to the Czech Republic. His biggest disappointment was not being able to pose for a photo in the Ossuary, where I had to tell him that discriminatory attitudes to Cookie Monsters might lead people to think he was being disrespectful!
Wed, 23 Mar 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Visiting Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, King's College, London
Early this year, I became involved in lecturing a course, Intelligent Systems for Legal and Administrative Applications, at King's College, London (a college of the University of London; also see my earlier post on this topic).
The SoftLaw component of the course has just concluded, and I think it went well. Yesterday, I checked the mail in the office and I had a letter from King's College. It told me that I would have the title of Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science for one year. This was a pleasant surprise!
Tue, 22 Mar 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
A Harry Potter Moment at King's Cross
Last Friday, Jasmine and I caught a
train from London to Cambridge, where we spent the weekend with
Doug. Our train from
London left from Platform 11 at King's Cross Station, so we had time to pause
briefly at Platform 9
¾. Jasmine
was sure she heard an announcement for the Hogwarts Express. She is pictured
below pushing a luggage trolley through the wall to get to the hidden platform,
with my well-travelled Cookie Monster toy in tow.
A while ago, I mentioned some potential intellectual property issues at Google News if news site owners do not like Google scraping and linking to their content.
Well, it seems that now Google News is being sued by Agence France Presse over its reproduction of AFP headlines, photos and story leads.
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My brother in Australia wonders whether I have been body-snatched. His blog contains the following post:
Peter, my alleged brother, is a techno-hermit I have decided. Since moving to the UK, he called me once. Once. Once in 6 or so months. Not that I'm bitter or anything. He has a phone. He has a cell phone. He's on IM. He has a website. He has a blog. He has email. But he never calls, SMSes, IMs, puts anything on his website or blog, nor emails.
I don't think he loves me any more. My father is pretending to sob behind me right now...
Jasmine, have you finally murdered Peetey?
I have actually sent Michael 21 emails in the three or so months since I moved to the UK, but that's probably not the point. Anyway, I've been insanely busy and working huge hours, doing things like multiple work trips to Dublin, a conference in Germany, and a whole lot of stuff in London, including teaching part of a course at King's College, London and various other things.
I have been quite aware that this site has fallen into disrepair, but I am hoping to fix that soon! Jasmine and I have just had a weekend with Doug to recharge a bit... details to follow soon when I update this site a bit more!
Mon, 31 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
vCJD Risk from cosmetic surgery?
Jasmine and I spent a lot of time in the US watching reality shows about cosmetic surgery. We would see people before, during and after their procedures. The doctors claimed that people can't succeed in Los Angeles unless they look perfect. I remember one doctor arguing, "We make lives". Whatever.
As you can probably gather from the tone of the previous paragraph, we thought a lot of what we saw was superficial and stupid. Cosmetic surgeons might call us ugly and and unaware of our cosmetic flaws -- but able to be fixed for about a US$15,000 fee each (not covered by health insurance, but we could use a credit card to pay). Of course, my criticisms don't extend to cosmetic procedures that are not about superficial beauty -- for example, various reconstructive procedures.
One of the themes that often ran through the American reality shows was the variation in quality standards across the cosmetic surgery industry. The good surgeons in Beverly Hills always seemed to see a lot of patients whose first requirement was to undo damage done by unqualified or incompetent plastic surgeons. In the United States, there is apparently a high incidence of unlicensed and illegal surgery -- sometimes performed in people's apartments or in motel rooms that the surgeon rents for a couple of days. Some people even head across the border from California to Mexico, where there is less regulation of cosmetic surgery, which leads to lower prices but sometimes dubious standards.
Something that has always bothered me a little is the use of animal or even human tissue in a number of procedures. From an article in the London Times newspaper last Saturday, it seems that the UK Government shares some of these concerns. To quote from the article:
FEARS that cosmetic implants used in lips and cheeks could trigger vCJD, the human form of “mad cow” disease, have prompted the Government to launch an investigation.
Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said that experts were examining the possibility that tissue implants such as collagen could transmit blood-borne diseases such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease if contaminated. Although no evidence of such transmission has been discovered, the committee on microbiological safety of blood and tissues believes there might be a risk.
Later, the article also discussed issues caused by limited industry regulation and by variable quality standards.
Cosmetic surgery seems to have been streaking ahead of the regulations that are meant to control it. Perhaps it will be a positive step for regulatory standards to improve, and for more information to be disseminated to potential patients about some of the risks of cosmetic surgery. While I am sure some practitioners would argue that their ability to deliver new treatments would be reduced by increased regulation, enhanced regulation plus better public information might help to squeeze some of the worst practitioners out of the market.
Sun, 30 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Jumper* made from the wool of Dolly the Sheep
I recently visited the Science Museum in London. It has all sorts of cool stuff, but the jumper made from the wool of Dolly the Sheep grabbed my attention!
* For Americans reading this, a jumper is a sweater. The word "jumper" is a big issue for Australians in the US as it means something completely different to most Americans!
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Australia Day in London, 26 January 2005
Last Wednesday was Australia Day. It was pretty cool to see that it was a bit of a big deal in London -- bars had Australian nights, there were Australia-related articles and giveaways in the media. Jasmine and I even saw someone walking down the street in the middle of the day in Wimbledon with an Australian flag painted on his face.
Mon, 24 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
Teaching at King's College, London
I am guest lecturing for a course, Intelligent Systems for Legal and Administrative Applications, at King's College, London. The course commences on Monday, 24 January. It is convened by Professor Andrew Jones and it splits into two halves. The first half will cover the theory of computer-based or -assisted decision-making. The second half -- where I will become involved -- will focus on practical aspects, using SoftLaw's STATUTE Expert toolkit for legal and administrative modelling. Students will have an opportunity to create their own small systems using the SoftLaw software.
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Low-calorie food scraps sought for South Kensington Tube station
Spotted recently at South Kensington Tube station in London: this enormous pigeon. There are plenty of others like it there. Tube travellers obviously need to watch the energy content of any food scraps they drop in the station -- for the pigeons' sake.
US Postal Service: beyond the call (sometimes)
When I was living in the United States, I always thought the US Postal Service was pretty ordinary. It was sometimes able to deliver letters and packages efficiently; but when anything was really important, especially for business, it was tempting to use FedEx. Far too often, first class mail would be delivered very late. Worse, I can think of several occasions when packages I sent, correctly addressed, to addresses I knew well and had even visited in person, were returned marked "address unknown". This made me realise just how good Australia Post and Royal Mail are.
However, it seems that the US Postal Service deserves some credit for delivering items it really could have refused to handle (Boing Boing review; alternative link). These pages describe an experiment to mail all kinds of weird, wonderful and horrible objects and see if they would be delivered. My favourite part of the account (but by no means the weirdest thing that was mailed):
Molar tooth. Mailed in clear plastic box. Made a nice rattling sound. Repackaged in padded mailer by unknown individual; the postage and address had been transferred to the outside of the new packaging. A handwritten note in a woman's writing inside read, "Please be advised that human remains may not be transported through the mail, but we assumed this to be of sentimental value, and made an exception in your case." Days to delivery, 14.
The note from the Postal Service is cool. I can't comment on how necessary the repackaging was, but it was a cute touch. 14 days to deliver? I guess the Tooth Fairy would use FedEx.
Sun, 16 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Unmarried couples now less likely to be criminals in Virginia
The Washington Post of Saturday, January 15, has an article (free Washington Post subscription required) about a Virginia Supreme Court decision that means unmarried sex is no longer prohibited in the State. The full text of the decision Martin v Ziherl is available on the Virginia Supreme Court website.
I lived in Virginia until about four weeks ago and I had never been aware of this particular law, Virginia Code § 18.2-344. The case stands as a great illustration of the way that old laws can sometimes be forgotten and then be cast back into the public eye for unexpected reasons. It is also a significant civil rights case... but no doubt it will be widely reported and discussed simply because it involved sex.
Code § 18.2-344 had not been enforced against consenting adults since 1847; and Muguet Martin and Kristopher Ziherl had not been interrupted late at night by a police force wanting to check that they were behaving themselves. In Martin v Ziherl the parties had ended up before the Court as a result of a herpes infection, allegedly passed from Kristopher Ziherl to Muguet Martin. Ziherl had allegedly known he was infected at the time of having unprotected sex. Martin sued Ziherl. The trial judge hearing the case accepted Ziherl's argument that there could be no tort recovery because the alleged injury had been suffered while participating in an illegal activity.
This decision was reversed by the Supreme Court:
Because Code § 18.2-334 ... is an attempt by the state to control the liberty interest which is exercised in making these personal decisions, it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Virginia Justices referred closely to the highly publicised case of Lawrence v Texas from 2003, in which a Texas law prohibiting what the law described as "[d]eviate sexual intercourse" was also struck down under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I have modified this page so it now only displays the 10 most recent entries, instead of the large number it was displaying before. All my old entries are still available under the archive heading on the left of the screen.
Land of liberty and static electricity
There was something strange about living in the Washington, DC, area. I remember noticing it when I got there for the first time in 2003, and I have noticed that it doesn't apply in London.
Throughout winter in Washington, there was the most amazing amount of static electricity. I remember that wherever I went, things would spark or stick to me. There was a spark between me and the computer at my desk whenever I sat down. Even putting on a t-shirt would make my hair stand on end. There was probably some Washington lobbyist for the makers of anti-static sprays rubbing his hands with glee every time I walked past shooting little blue lightning bolts into the evening air.
I don't notice static electricity in London, just like I never did when I lived in Canberra. Maybe there is something about the way the air conditioning worked in the buildings I was in in America -- perhaps something about the way it dried the air out or something.
Sat, 08 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
I commented in the final lines of a post the other day that British television can air a lot of programming that would simply not be allowed in the United States. I have been interested over the past couple of days to read about the growing furore of the BBC's decision to air Jerry Springer: The Opera at 10 p.m. (London time) on 8 January. The BBC decision has led to more than 40,000 complaints to the broadcaster, due to issues such as the show's high-level of swearing and claims of racial vilification. Significantly, however, the show is being allowed to air without significant threat of legal sanctions like those that are made in the US (for example, the fines in the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" affair).
I actually received a call from a friend this afternoon asking whether I was interested in seeing Jerry Springer: The Opera at the theatre tonight, but I already had other plans. Maybe another night...
Fri, 07 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time]
Chief Executive of CNN's US network agrees with Jon Stewart about Crossfire
In October, I published a couple of entries about Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire, in which he criticised the show's journalistic credentials and accused it of "hurting America". You can read my previous posts here and here.
I just found an article on Boing Boing trumpeting the headline: 'CNN "Crossfire" host Carlson to stop hurting America". Boing Boing links to a Yahoo article about the non-renewal of Carlson's CNN contract and the likely winding back of the Crossfire program, to be replaced, it seems, by programming with less argument and more substance. Jonathan Klein, CEO of CNN's US network, is quoted as saying, "I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp".
I wonder whether Jon Stewart will comment on these developments.
Mon, 03 Jan 2005 [Australian eastern time][/United Kingdom] permanent link
The Times (issue of 31 December, 2004)
On New Year's Eve, perhaps inspired by all the hordes of spiky-haired pinstriped guys I had seen on the Tube reading the financial press, I decided I should buy a newspaper to read during my travels that afternoon. Here are some thoughts about the interesting stuff I found in that day's hard copy issue of The Times (sorry, no links because I read the paper version!).
Whenever I do actually pick up a hard copy newspaper, I seem to find myself reading a lot of material I wouldn't stumble across online. I am not sure whether that is because of the way I browse online, or because online papers focus more on attention-grabbing headlines on their websites, or for some other reason -- but at any rate, I am not convinced that newspaper websites are a direct substitute for reading the papers themselves.
Peter Rabbit in Egyptian hieroglyphics
Arts Reporter Jack Malvern wrote (p. 33) about the translation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter into Egyptian hieroglyphs by a British Museum expert and a retired medical expert. The article summarises the story thus:
Peter Rabbit, or hare beneath a semi-circle, as he is known in the 4,000-year-old hieroglyphic form, learns why it is important to listen to his mother when he is caught trespassing by Mr McGregor, or duck, vertical line, jar stand over mouth, jar stand, lasso over mouth, sitting man.
Here are the full hieroglyph names of some of the major protagonists, taken from the article:
- Peter Rabbit: "square and semi-circle over mouth, sitting man, folded cloth, scourer over arm, semi-circle, hare";
- Flopsy: "horned viper over a lion, lasso, square over door bolt, pair of reeds, sitting woman";
- Mopsy: "owl, lasso, square over door bolt, two reeds, sitting woman".
I'll be looking for the book at the British Museum shop when it is published in April!
Will dangerously thin models be put out of work in Israel?
An article by Ian McKinnon (p.41) describes concerns in Israel over fashion models and eating disorders. The article cites Israeli officials as claiming that 10 per cent of Israeli girls aged between 14 and 17 have eating disorders, and argues that many young girls idolise models. It describes a quest by a successful Israeli photographer, Adi Barkan:
To protect models and project a better image to young women, he approached leading fashion clothing chains and food manufacturers and persuaded them to sign up to a charter promising they will not use models with a [body mass index] of less than 19 from next month. He also persuaded Inbal Gavrieli, the MP, to introduce legislation insisting all models undergo an examination by a Government nutritionist.
Israeli legislators are considering the proposed law.
What Britons do the morning after the night before
An article about New Year's Eve celebrations (by Helen Nugent, p. 23) reported that 80 per cent of people were expected to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in their own homes, apparently due in large part to concern about New Year's Eve rip-offs. A side-bar claimed that:
[the most] popular activity for New Year's Day is to "get fresh air with a long walk", 46 per cent of Britons said.
My own observations suggest this activity may have been less popular with some of the 20 per cent of Britons who went out. A number of them seemed to be having trouble even walking out of carriages on the London Underground (which stayed open overnight for those who were brave enough to risk New Year's Eve rip-offs).
Alleged murderer accused on gravestone inscription
An article by Lewis Smith (p. 37) begins by describing the 1763 gravestone of Sarah Smith:
Nestling in the grass behind a 13th-century parish church lies a tombstone inscribed with an extraordinary accusation.
"It was C____s B____w that brought me to my end," it charges. "With half a Pint of Poyson He came to visit me. Write this on my Grave That all that read it may see."
The article describes efforts by amateur historian Jeremy Crick to identify Sarah Smith's killer, whom Crick now believes to have been Charles Barrow, a wealthy tenant farmer. It is a fascinating account of a family's way of accusing someone of a crime over which no one was ever charged.
I have not yet heard accounts of modern day lawyers searching the headstones of the more recently deceased for defamatory statements or potential instances of contempt of court.
And on a lower-brow note -- but not from The Times
As I type this on Sunday evening in England, I have had the British Five television network's review of celebrities' scandalous behaviour in 2004 on in the background. Predictably, the program's coverage included events like Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction and Paris Hilton's amateur video antics.
These events were often discussed on TV while I was in the US -- but Five is not constrained by US broadcasting regulators and was able to air short excerpts (carefully selected, I am sure, in the case of the Paris Hilton tape) on free-to-air television without on-screen blurring. This footage could be aired in many places around the world -- but after almost two years in the US, it reminded me of how constrained the US media is in its portrayal of certain subjects, and how tabloid programming on US networks like VH1 and E! is often forced to refer to events that cannot legally be broadcast there.
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Jasmine and I have been settling into London. We have been here before and we also have a number of friends in London and the UK, and both these things have made the move much easier. We have also already had our first visitor from Australia stay for a night!
A week after arriving here, we headed out to Regent St on Boxing Day evening. The street was still decked out with Christmas lights, inspired by the Pixar movie The Incredibles. Here are some photos from that night, with another taken the next day to show a comparison between night and day:
But the most important part of our visit was buying a game called Cat-opoly for Jasmine:
Jasmine has written about Cat-opoly separately on her site.