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WA Daylight Savings Referendum 2009 - Perth Metro Area visualisation
So the WAEC published the results of the referendum at http://www.waec.wa.gov.au/elections/state_referendums/2009_Daylight_Saving_Referendum/Read more... ) -
The essence of [architectural] beauty
I've been reading Alain de Botton's 'The Architecture of Happiness' recently. A particular passage in part II of the book seems to do to design & architectural beauty what Pirsig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' did to quality - that is, defining such ethereal idealistic concepts vis-a-vis man:
In essence, what works of design and ( Read more... ) -
Code commenting - the myth
I have lately been embroiled in a debate about the importance of commenting in code. While I don’t yet believe that comments are completely unnecessary, I tend to think that they are largely unnecessary. Almost two years ago, I wrote ‘Software development without maps’ in which I extolled the virtues of ‘documentation’. While it can be easy to ( Read more... ) -
Bangkok is sinking
Earth Hour was on again last night. As I wrote about last year's event, I figured it was time to post again, though this post won't be about me re-iterating my previous points. I've just read an article on NYT titled The Civil Heretic, about Freeman Dyson and his 'controversial' views about climate change. This particular excerpt reminded me about ( Read more... ) -
JJJ Hottest 100 picks
- Architecture in Helsinki - That Beep
- Cut Copy - Lights and Music
- The Presets - This Boy's in Love
- Children Collide - Skeleton Dance
- Death Cab For Cutie - I will possess your heart
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Paris
Yes, there's actually a film titled 'Paris'. It's yet another one of those 'multi threaded' plot films, a la Syriana or Babel. It starts off rather confusingly - rather than picking a single starting point, and then branching out, it begins by showing glimpses of all the various little subplots first. Predictably, the subtle links between the ( Read more... ) -
Earth Hour
I didn't turn off any lights during the so-called Earth Hour 2008. There were 3 or 4 lights on at the time, each rated around 15-25W - yes, those hazardous, mercury-vapour-containing compact fluorescent bulbs. My UPS monitor logged approximately 300W usage while I was playing Call of Duty 4 online. (That’s including various network equipment - ( Read more... ) -
Dirty dishes
I can't cook when there are dirty dishes in the sink. On the one hand, our kitchen is fairly small, so every square centimetre counts. But more importantly, it's about a state of mind. Doing the dishes is a meditative process, where you rarely have to think much about what you're doing - you simply go about the business of doing it. That said, it's ( Read more... ) -
night, rescue dawn
Rescue Dawn's a pretty cool film all round. Christian Bale gives yet another compelling performance as the ever-resourceful Dieter Dengler. Despite the feature length, however, there isn't much depth to the story - what makes the film enjoyable is the way it brings the South East Asia of 1966 to vivid life, and Bale's relentless character. Despite ( Read more... )
