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.
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- Mikal
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- Lyn
- Doug
- Marissa
- Lisaloha
- David (Greenomics)
- Paul's Ramblings (music)
Hits since 1 Sep 2004
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Sun, 02 Apr 2006 [Australian eastern time]
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On Sunday afternoon I headed up to Putney Bridge to watch the start of the Boat Race: the annual rowing challenge between Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The social spectacle -- thousands of people lining the River Thames, many of them drinking, watching and cheering for the start -- seemed more interesting than the race itself, particularly as the rowers were out of sight within seconds anyway. For those who are deeply concerned about such things, Oxford won.
Hidden Braille Messages on the National Museum of Australia building
Miranda Devine has written a column in the Sydney Morning Herald which describes how the architect of the National Museum of Australia, which was opened in 2001, wanted to achieve a subversive "one in the eye for John Howard [Australia's Prime Minister]". To this end, the building had Braille writing built into the crazy modern design of its exterior.
The messages only remained for 10 days, and were then obscured or changed by management. Some examples quoted from the article:
"Forgive us our genocide" was one of the messages intended as a reproach to John Howard's Government for refusing to apologise for the mistreatment of Aborigines by previous generations.
"Sorry" was written in braille several times as well as "Resurrection city", a reference to a 1968 civil rights protest in Washington DC. Other messages were: "God knows", "She'll be right", "Mate", "Who is my neighbour?", "Time will tell", "Good as gold" and "Love is blind".
Unfortunately, the Sydney Morning Herald link may require a free registration.