Meriblog: Meri Williams' Weblog

links for 2010-02-07

2010-02-07T23:03:10Z

best of craigslist: Hey Crackhead

I feel for this guy — poor vandalised bike!

(tags: funny craigslist rant drugs culture comedy writing urban crackhead)
Multipotentiality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is my word of the day. Pretty much most of my friendship circles at school, university and now work have consisted of people who experience this (suffer seems a strong word for something with such a positive background but I suppose potentially a truly negative impact)

(tags: lifehacks personality genius psychology multipotentiality smartkids smart geeks choices lifechoices)
Polymath – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting how our formal education processes in many countries have really reduced the capacity for polymaths to develop. I suppose those most so included are likely to develop any way though! Last couple of years I've sponsored a scholarship at my old highschool for a student displaying polymath tendencies.

(tags: wikipedia polymath science education inspiration knowledge genius)
How to recognise a good programmer

Insightful article about how to spot good programmers.

(tags: programming hiring career development jobs management recruitment talentspotting talent)
Open Innovation | Innovation Management

This is a really interesting site: pairing up problem solvers with complex problems and the people who want them solved (and can pay for solutions). Sort of like an innovation / solutions marketplace.

(tags: inovation collaboration research competition science ideas business crowdsourcing innovation outsourcing)

links for 2010-02-05

2010-02-05T23:03:36Z

Student sells virginity for $45k – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Wow. Hell of an innovative way to pay for college! Not sure how I feel about this, on the one hand sad that anyone has to do this to get an education, on the other hand good on her for getting that much…

(tags: business3.0 businessmodels prostitution studentfees)
YouTube – GNILLEY presentation at Game Jam Sydney

Very entertaining game demo where shouting at the screen kills things! Looks hilarious

(tags: games funny cool humour gaming gamejam sydney rapiddevelopment)
Information Is Beautiful | Ideas, issues, concepts, subjects – visualized!

Gorgeous blog with beautiful graphs — true meaning of information visualisation

(tags: information visualisations blogs graphics statistics data inspiration graphs visualization infographics design)
"Farmville Is Getting a Little Too Realistic" by Jason Michaels on CollegeHumor

This is really really funny, especially if you're constantly exposed to Farmville by friends & family on Facebook as I am!

(tags: facebook farmville funny humour)

Awake After All These Years

2010-01-09T20:08:38Z

Some of you know that I’ve been having trouble sleeping over the past couple of years. Actually, more accurately, having trouble *staying* asleep. Only being able to sleep for an hour or two before waking got annoying enough that last November I checked into hospital overnight for a sleep study for an uncomfortable night covered in electrodes.

What they found astonished me. I wasn’t just waking up every hour or two. I was stopping breathing over 75 times an hour — waking each time so that my breathing restarted, without being aware of it. They have diagnosed severe sleep apnoea. The condition wasn’t necessarily a huge surprise (anyone unfortunate enough to have had to share a room or even house with me knows my snoring is pretty epic – my dad is just the same) but the level of severity was.

They immediately gave me a CPAP machine which forces me to breathe during the night by blowing a gale through a mask at me. The effect has been pretty much immediate — the first morning I felt infinitely more awake and I have a huge amount more energy than I have had in years.

The weird thing? You’d assume that having had no REM in over 18 months, I’d *know* just how tired I was. But I really didn’t. I’d occasionally fall asleep in front of the telly, but otherwise I experienced hardly any daytime sleepiness (one of the key symptoms of the condition). But having had some decent sleep over the last week since I was given the machine, I can suddenly feel the difference. I have more energy, I feel smarter, more awake and much more balanced.

Net, my one and only resolution for 2010: To sleep more and get more done.

Any of this sound familiar, either for you or someone you know? The Sleep Apnoea Trust has a decent FAQ section, more info available at NHS Choices.

links for 2009-11-12

2009-11-12T23:00:15Z

YouTube – The world's deepest bin – Thefuntheory.com – Rolighetsteorin.se

Another Funtheory video, this time a bottomless bin. Clever!

(tags: design exhibition technology innovation experiment socialengineering litter bin)
YouTube – Piano stairs – TheFunTheory.com – Rolighetsteorin.se

Innovative way to make more folks take the stairs!

(tags: funtheory fun video youtube music inspiration innovation design stairs piano)
Larry Goes to the Market – Neatorama

Really funny video of an extremely drunk guy in a market, edited silent movie style.

(tags: videos funny silentmovie humour)

Support Louis & Willem on SA’s Got Talent!

2009-11-08T00:38:22Z

My best friend from back home, Louis van der Merwe and his brother Willem van der Merwe are through to the final 21 in the first series of South Africa’s Got Talent. They sing opera (although they are both techies in their day jobs) and have absolutely amazing voices.

Please consider helping to support them by checking out www.louisandwillem.com (notably, watch their initial audition), joining their Facebook fan group or if you are in South Africa even voting for them this week when they perform live in the semi-finals. If you’re on Twitter you can follow the craziest week in their lives by following @louisandwillem.

They were featured in YOU and Huisgenoot this week so hopefully there’s a good swell of support for them already building back home

links for 2009-09-06

2009-09-06T23:02:23Z

Flickr: The WaterHousing Surf Photography Pool

Absolutely gorgeous set of surf (as in sea as well as sport) photos on Flickr. One of the most beautiful groups I've seen in a while!

(tags: beautiful photos water sea photography surf waterhousing)
The Top 13 DRM-free eBook Sites « Text2Go Blog

Interesting list of good DRM-free eBook sites. Since we'll be heading off on a three month sabbatical next year and I read voraciously when on holiday (on average 2 books per day!) I'm thinking I'll need to invest in some sort of reader closer to the time.

(tags: drm ebooks free)

links for 2009-06-20

2009-06-20T23:01:27Z

Hunch.com

All about hunch.com and how it works. Be warned, it's strangely addictive!

(tags: decisions systems websites web2.0 interesting caterinafake)
Awesome wedding invite

This is fantastic!

(tags: design wedding relationships paper love story invitation)
Gary Hamel on Managing Generation Y – the Facebook Generation – Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 – WSJ

Article about how the changing "internet generation values" will change the workplace. Certainly some of these dynamics are at play — the extent to which the general population really lives open source-esque values, however, I'm not sure is as great as posited.

(tags: facebook management web2.0 business socialnetworking diversity generationy trends leadership)
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Sir Paul's squirrel 'to be shot'

This should win an award for "most misleading title"

(tags: bbc news balancedmyarse misleading)

links for 2009-06-13

2009-06-13T23:02:22Z

Social Media ROI: Dell's $3m on Twitter and Four Better Examples

Amazing ROI for Dell from their Twitter account — little bit old-school, but still a valuable data point

(tags: twitter statistics business dell marketing roi socialmedia)
Europe to get Windows 7 sans browser | Beyond Binary – CNET News

Looks like Firefox penetration might just go up from 31% in Europe…

(tags: microsoft firefox internetexplorer monopoly europe eu regulations)

links for 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T23:02:47Z

Mir:ror – The RFID reader that gives Powers to your Objects

This is a fantastic gadget — I wondered when programmable RFID would start to infiltrate the home market. Interestingly I imagine the "kid checking in when he gets home" use case and the "wave your keys at it and it tells you the weather & traffic" will be v popular.

(tags: RFID technology design gadgets innovation fun interactive gadget mirror)
Spymaster Twitter Game: The Complete Guide

A guide to Spymaster, the game currently taking Twitter by storm.

(tags: twitter games social howto rules reference spymaster)
30 Examples of Attractive Nav

Lovely study in good navigation on websites. Inspiring!

(tags: inspiration webdesign design usability web typography menu ui navigation)
UI-patterns.com

Design patterns are a really powerful concept, but often pattern libraries are a little too abstract to be useful. This UI pattern library prefers to be eminently useful and pragmatic rather than pure — and is infinitely better for it!

(tags: design webdesign usability interface library development inspiration designpatterns patterns)
YouTube – Fearless puppy plays with a German Shepherd

I know that this is as bad as blogging about my cat (for the record, I don't have one!) but watch this video and if you still think it didn't improve your day, come back and complain in the comments

(tags: dog puppy cute hilarious video youtube)
YouTube – Rudess Meets Bebot

Wonderful demo of what looks like a brilliant little synthesizer — amazing what different uses the iPhone touchscreen tech has opened up!

(tags: music iphone technology software videos youtube synthesizers)
Phillip Toledano – Days with My Father

This photo essay is absolutely beautiful and deeply moving.

(tags: photography family story photos inspiration)

Useful Links For Buying A Car

2009-01-21T18:18:58Z

Our poor old Polo died over Xmas and so we found ourselves looking for a newish second-hand car in what is definitely a buyer’s market.

Here were some of the useful sites we found:

The Which? Car Buying Guide is useful, particularly if you haven’t yet fully absorbed every Top Gear episode in existence. Worth signing up for a 1 pound month trial.
The reliability stats are also useful, though I’m sure it won’t be too much of a spoiler if I tell you basically you should buy Japanese if you don’t want it to die. If you insist on European, go Skoda.
Parker’s is great for used car values. I put together some depreciation charts that were a great tool when bargaining with dealers who assume women will buy anything so long as it’s the right colour.
WhatCar? generally has a refreshingly different take from the very sensible Which? reviews, with the added bonus that there is no gate fee to view. The valuations are a good rule of thumb as well.
The Motley Fool Loan Calculator is a nice simple tool to check much your payments will be and for how long.
In the UK, I find AutoTrader a good place to look for listings.
Once you’ve shortlisted some options, your money is well spent doing an HPI check. I tried a couple of places and found that the cheap and cheerful offering from MyCarCheck was perfectly sufficient and highlighted that two of the cars we were considering really were too good to be true.

Any other suggestions? Add them in the comments

For those interested, we were deciding between a Toyota Yaris, a Skoda Fabia and a Honda Jazz. Found the Yaris cramped and not particularly fun to drive, the Fabia pretty much a carbon copy of our Polo and the Jazz spacious and engaging to drive. Went for a Jazz but likely would have been happy with a Fabia if we didn’t want to have as much back seat / boot room for cross country Xmas trips.