Just Too Techy - Half Man/Half Geek

Tim Ferriss' "Trial By Fire" TV Pilot (via @Lifehacker)

2009-11-12T21:28:00.001Z

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

10 signs that religion has turned evil - Holy Kaw!

2009-11-12T08:09:00.001Z

Daniel B. Clendenin has published a list of ten warning signs that religion has turned evil. For example, “fanatical claims of absolute truth,” “identifying the Gospel with nationalistic ideologies,” and “blind obedience to totalitarian, charismatic, and authoritarian leaders.” Heavy, important reading if you’re interested in religion.

More on Religion, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islamism, and Judaism.

via holykaw.alltop.com

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Docking the Slide Pane in OpenOffice Impress

2009-11-11T16:15:00.001Z

You have to hold down Ctrl, then double-click the gray area next to the word slides in the slides pane. Not the top title bar Slides but the second time Slides appears.

via openoffice.blogs.com

Some how managed to pull out the Slides pane in Impress (OpenOffice version of PowerPoint) and it was floating all around the place. Was really winding me up and a quick google found this article posted by Solveig Haugland in January 2006. Nearly four years ago!

Interesting for two reasons:
1) This post is still helping people 4 years on.
2) Why hasn't this been fixed yet?!

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

How to Write a Great Novel: Junot Diaz, Anne Rice, Margaret Atwood and Other Authors Tell - WSJ.com

2009-11-08T22:52:00.001Z

Richard Powers lounges in bed all day and speaks his novels aloud to a laptop computer with voice-recognition software. Junot Diaz, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning novel "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," shuts himself in the bathroom and perches on the edge of the tub with his notebook when he's tackling a knotty passage. Hilary Mantel, whose Tudor drama "Wolf Hall" claimed this year's Man Booker Prize, jumps in the shower when she gets stuck. "The number of pages I've got that are water marked, I can't tell you," Ms. Mantel said.

via online.wsj.com

Great article (HT @guykawasaki - http://holykaw.alltop.com/how-to-write-a-great-novel)

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Munsters-style house

2009-11-05T20:25:00.003Z

via onlinepropertyshowcase.com

Jay (http://onsitestudios.posterous.com/) put me on to this amazing house in a comment to my post about Steampunk and Oxford Museum of the history of science. Click through for the 360 degree experience.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

OnlinePropertyShowcase™

2009-11-05T20:25:00.001Z

via onlinepropertyshowcase.com

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Steampunk Art @ Oxford Museum of the History of Science

2009-11-05T16:09:00.001Z

via steampunkmuseumexhibition.blogspot.com

Oxford University's Museum of the History of Science (http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/steampunk/) is hosting an exhibition of Steampunk Art as demonstrated by this image from the - somewhat scatty, but interesting - blog dedicated to the event.

The exhibition is on now until February 2010. I haven't been yet but intend to go this weekend.

The museum itself is pretty amazing and is the original site of Elias Ashmoel's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Ashmole) museum (now housed at the other end of Broad St and around the corner in the grandest of Oxford's buildings). I would advise anyone to pop in and take a look.

If you get no further than the awe inspiring staircase I am certain that you would consider the time well spent.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Should you be golfing? from @keithferrazzi

2009-11-05T13:11:00.001Z

Former Golf Pro Merryll McElwain on Getting Started with Golf

Former golf-pro turned Financial Analyst Merryll McElwain

Why is golf so important to relationship building? Why for women especially?

Merryll: Golf is one of the only sports where you get extensive quality time and conversation with someone. On the golf course, you have several hours of conversation available in between shots to really get to know someone. Golf has typically been a business tool for men. Women have used other ways to build relationships. I hear all the time from successful women who are frustrated with how difficult it is to break into the men’s club. Golf, in my opinion, is an excellent tool to do that.

via keithferrazzi.com

Really interesting article on using golf as a professional enhancement technique.

Personally, I'd play more if I had the money and time as I love the game anyway.

Sniff... sniff... Is that a lame excuse I smell?

Well, maybe. But, the cost is a real turn-off for me. In the UK, at least, there is definitely a high financial cost to taking up the game that I think stops most from even attempting to learn the game. This, of course, does result in a certain feeling of exclusion about golf for a lot of people.

I guess the choice is if you view it as an investment. But surely that would colour your enjoyment of it? "Well, that round of golf when really badly - not much return on my ROI today..."

So it must depend on what you hope to gain from it. Certainly, in some cases, the networking aspect must be brilliant.

I once suggested to my then boss and friend of a small networking business in Oxfordshire (http://www.span-networks.co.uk/) that he for my membership of a local golf club.

My reasoning was this: His business was based on network support and services to local SMEs. It was doing ok, but sales were based on word-of-mouth referrals and established relationships. We were part of a large church the friend network stretched quite far. But, not quite far enough. The way I saw it was that most of the clientèle at any one of the local golf courses would provide us with leads a-plenty. Most of the members being exactly the sort of people that made the IT decisions for their company or at least had influence. Relationships with just a few could provide extra business for the company.

My boss felt that the investment was too uncertain to shell out for at that stage. Though he was convinced enough to allow my colleague and I to arrive late in the day a few times when we played an early morning round

Also, he didn't like golf.

I totally understand the decision. The investment was too precarious. So when is it not? How long will it take to see a result of the investment?

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

The Google Story - vid

2009-11-03T17:51:00.001Z

via youtube.com

Thanks to (http://reflectionof.me)

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Kings Of Convenience - I'D Rather Dance With You - video

2009-11-03T17:28:00.001Z

via youtube.com

For some reason this makes me cry. But good cry.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Art of Manliness.com @artofmanliness

2009-10-29T16:35:00.001Z

via artofmanliness.com

Found this site via Holy Kaw's posterous (holykaw.alltop.com/how-to-apologize-like-a-man-2) today and have been really enjoying it.

Watch the @channelflip video to get a brief introduction to this. My impressions were the same as John's. I thought this would be a dry humour site along the lines of Despair Inc. or the Onion, but found it full of serious and well written posts about the Art of being a man.

Really enjoyed the So You Want My Job series (http://artofmanliness.com/2009/10/28/so-you-want-my-job-police-officer/) as well as the articles on hair and personal hygiene. Will be reading through the archives as there seems to be plenty here.

Nice job @artofmanliness

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Going Goosh for your command line needs

2009-10-26T16:25:00.001Z

via steverubel.com

As a command line junkie i really like this new google based cmd line interface called http://goosh.org

If you're not into the commnad line or don't 'get' it read Neal Stephenson's In The Begininning Was the Command Line. Available as a book or for free here: http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Physics Games - Fragger

2009-10-22T19:06:00.001+01:00

via physicsgames.net

I'm addicted to this game.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

What Is 21CN? Well, whatever you do - don't ask BT

2009-10-21T15:46:00.001+01:00

21CN in a nutshell

21CN - driving a radical simplification

21CN - BT's enabling infrastructure for growth

21CN - a world class customer experience

21CN - greater control, choice and flexibility

21CN - today's most complete, exciting and ambitious business transformation

21CN - implementation and industry consultation is underway

21CN - it applies to our international business too

via btplc.com

I wanted to find out about 21CN in a bit more detail so I went to the source - the BT website. I saw this '21CN in a nutshell' and looked forward to a brief explanation of the topic - an everyman's run down of what to expect in the coming months from 21CN.

Would have been better to talk to the cat.

What a load of business-speak garbage! I mean, I'm as guilty as the next man of using tech-talk when a simple explanation is good enough but this page is a waste of space. The is no way on God's green earth that this can be called an 'Nutshell' explanation of a topic. It's useless twaddle. Yes, sir. I said 'twaddle', sir.

For a much more useful run-through go see SamKnows.com: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/21cn_overview.php

Now that site knows how to use a bullet list.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Brown bread rolls, crabapple jelly and beer

2009-10-15T18:37:00.001+01:00

Posted via email from Breakmaker

Bookwhen - Take your bookings online - great example of a simple & effective web app

2009-10-15T10:11:00.001+01:00

via bookwhen.com

Met up with the founder and developer of this site BookWhen.com last night at Oxford Internet Professionals Meetup (http://bit.ly/oip-meetup). Really impressed with the subtle ease of use and basic functionality.

Developed by http://tidyapps.com this is a great example of a web app that has retained the simple nature of the original idea. Many web devs could learn from this. (including me!)

See also http://whichweekend.com - an amusingly simple utility that allows you to arrange an appropriate weekend between people.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success (via @NathanealMohr )

2009-10-15T09:46:00.001+01:00

via ted.com

One of my favourite TED talks. I watched this about 2 years ago and went out and bought Richard's book: Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky and Rich

My (then) 5 year old son absolutely fell in love with the book because of Richard' clear and simple illustrations. He started to try and read and would quote me keywords from the book: "WORK, daddy!" How many business books will do that?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0973900903?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwbloggr-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0973900903

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Great vid example of collaboration on #GoogleDocs using a love letter scenario

2009-10-15T09:29:00.001+01:00

via youtube.com

Like the demo of how to use the collaborative features in Google Docs. Little cheesey, but more than gets the message across. Wouldn't you help out a friend with their love letter?

Have heard of people using GDocs for collaboration on books (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/promoting-your-book-online/) - would love to here some more examples, good and bad, of using these features. Let me know.

HT to Paul Jacobson for the vid - http://pauljacobson.posterous.com/

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

The Lean Startup Seedcamp 2009 Edition #leanstartup #scw09 (via @joelg87 and @ericries )

2009-10-15T08:44:00.001+01:00

via youtube.com

Just watching this... very interesting. See also @ericries Lessons Learned blog: http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Behind-the-scenes tour of The Beatles LOVE (Cirque du Soleil) - Holy Kaw! @guykawsaki

2009-10-09T13:49:00.001+01:00

via holykaw.alltop.com

This looks amazing. I love the fact that Guy K. is so busy with his digital camera when he visits these places - and doesn't hold back when it comes to publishing them online for us mere mortals to look at. Go have a look!

This particular set of pics intrigues me for the backstage stuff. I mean the front of house and the costumes make me want to see the show (yeah, right! the next time I'm in Vegas, huh?) - but I love the fact that we see this fascinating picture of the practice area. Amazing to see that this place is such a crucible of specialisms that you even get to see a pic of the Audio technician. The performers lounge is so human and the chair in the lift that is 'show critical' (I've done enough live shows to know why that thing needs to stay there.

Great set. Makes me want to get back into theatre.

('Mere mortals': That's me being ironic - the polar opposite to Guy's inclusive attitude.)

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

My First Animated Movie (courtesy of @xtranormal)

2009-10-01T20:58:00.001+01:00

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20091001155148832

My first animated movie. Please be kind. The voice talent were a nightmare to direct...

Posted via email from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Newton Faulkner—The Official Site [GB] — Home

2009-09-26T09:55:00.001+01:00

via newtonfaulkner.com

Keep hearing about this guy. Not really listened to his music before then saw this amusing video. Simple and well crafted lyrics with a clear message set to a likeable music track. Like it! Will be listening to more.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Techcrunch London #tclondon

2009-09-25T10:53:00.001+01:00

Had a really fun time at TechCrunch London last night. Within budget and brilliantly relevant. Drinks were provided (tea/coffee to begin with and beer & whatever later) as were a few pretty good nibbles.

Had some good chats with a few folks and the convos are continuing on Twitter #tclondon and email.

Notes from the pitches.

Pitches displayed some interesting ideas (I was late so missed the first few). Congrats to @major_grooves for winning with http://www.festbuzz.com 'Crowdsourced reviews for the Edinburgh Festivals'. Interesting to see what they are up to next.

Fascinating bid-for-dates pitch from http://www.kyubid.com - that many folks considered had a wider potential than just dating - agreed! Did 'spark' a conversation with http://www.streetspark.com guys (Mike, Anthony and Bree) about why there were so many Online Dating startups. Answer: there's gold in them thar' hills!

http://www.MyWidz.se had an pitch for 'iPhone apps on any phone' - great idea, but need to look into it more before I understand it enough to comment.

En-twyn http://www.en-twyn.com/ had a power socket hardware solution which was brilliantly presented and oddly enticing. Apparently, they have interest from Netgear - oooh! Jump on board now investors.

Kohive http://kohive.com have a nice online desktop solution that, whilst good, seemed difficult to understand what they were trying to do that was different. It's all about RealTime collaboration, apparently. Would like to take a look but the link they gave us http://kohive.com/techcrunch is not working. Guess I'll have to sign up on the front of the site instead!

http://YooMoo.com - didn't get. Maybe I wasn't listening. Will look into it more.

Missed the http://AudioBoo.fm and http://MixCloud.com pitches, but know the apps well - even though I am iPhone-less at the moment.

Then two talks from Wil Harris @wilharris of http://channelflip.com on seeking investment in Europe and one from Scott Rafer from http://lookery.com on shutting down a startup. I liked both and wanted to hear more from Scott but he seemed to loose momentum towards the end.

Great chatting to Richard George from LinkedIn and Excellent chat with Tom Kotecki from OneLeep.com.

Only wish I had the cash for FOWA. Maybe I'll turn up for the networking.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

How to Steal a Botnet and What Can Happen When You Do (Google Tech Talk)

2009-09-24T10:28:00.001+01:00

via youtube.com

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts

Leo Laporte CarPool (via @jason) - I can't believe I haven't watched this show before

2009-09-21T17:44:00.001+01:00

via blip.tv

Great format! Should have watched earlier. Good to see @bobbyllew keeping busy.

Posted via web from rujmah's Dis-Collected Thoughts