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
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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
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[/Cyberspace] permanent link

Is the Wikipedia model broken?

Does Wikipedia really work the way it is meant to? Is it really an amorphous community of people working together to promote knowledge? In the past, there has been plenty of discussion about situations where Wikipedia's information has been compromised, even though the overall standard is very high. (See an earlier post from this blog for some examples.)

Michael Arrington has some interesting comments about cliques and ulterior political motives on the Wikipedia site. Here's an extract:

While wikipedia appears to be open to all, I’ve seen numerous examples of changes getting immediately deleted for what appears to be political reasons rather than the pursuit of pure knowledge. And I’ve also seen people be attacked for making changes that appear to be factual and correct.

Technorati tags for this post: Cyberspace Wikipedia Arrington CrunchNotes

[/Technical] permanent link

Zoom Clouds

Jasmine has discovered Zoom Clouds, and she thought I should have one... so she designed it and added it to the left-hand navigation bar on this site. It's fun. It displays words and phrases from my posts and then links to them.

Technorati tags for this post: Technical Zoom+Clouds

[/America] permanent link

Avoiding lost baggage (and contents!) in the USA 

The editors at Boing Boing often criticise US aviation security. In a recent article, they point to a technique which allegedly allows checked bags on US flights to be locked, and also supposedly ensures the security of the bags' contents:

Many airports won't let you effectively lock your suitcases when you fly, and the new limits on carry-on luggage thanks to moisture-terror-hysteria mean it's open season for unscrupulous TSA employees and baggage handlers who want to help themselves to expensive cameras and other valuable in checked bags.

But once you add a gun -- even a starter pistol -- to your luggage, it gets extra-locked, gains new tracking privileges, and is subject to heightened scrutiny all the way to your destination.

Boing Boing links to Bruce Schneier's blog on this topic.

I can't vouch for the wisdom or effectiveness of this... but it's definitely not an idea I would have thought of myself!

Technorati tags for this post: America aviation security TSA Transportation+Security+Administration Boing+Boing