

I have no idea what Mike’s up to but caught odd fragments via twitter while sitting in a cafe eating my lunch that he was doing some kitchen experingmenting with DNA and fruit.
And a reference to Milton the Monster which I couldn’t help but respond to as Milton is a fondly remembered cartoon from my childhood.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/tags/uofaoday/
Some tweets….

Technorati Tags: dna, fang, milton the monster, uofaoday
So, I spent most all of today sorting, cleaning and tossing stuff out me shed.
As part of the ruthless cull I packed away in a box over 100 cassette tapes that I hadn’t listened to for over 10 years…no over 15 probably. I’m giving them away.
But of them there was some I just couldn’t part with and so kept them aside and made a list to see if I could get them digitally as I never listen any other way than through my computer. It was always a pain before digital computer based music for me anyway as I had to have someone put tapes in/out for me.
So as I was typing out the list of must keeps, I thought I’d share it here. Most of these were taped off albums (yes kiddies, real black vinyl ones with little grooves) which have long since left my shores. If you hadn’t noticed, the 70’s feature heavily … go figure
Cassettes: artist-album;s (no particular order)
simon and garfunkel-central park
eagles-hotel california; the long run
alan parsons project
paul young
tex don and charlie-sad but true
bob seger
the daisy heads-demo
stevie wonder-hotter than july
pink foyd-the wall
randy stonehill-love beyond reason; between the glory and the flame
robbie robertson
the violet burning
hoi polloi
rick elias
pete townshend and ronnie lane-rough mix
spinning john-casual
t rex-electric warrior
stevie wright
ozark mountain daredevils-it’ll shine when it shines; nuclear fishin
moody blues-long distance voyager
joe cocker-mad dogs and englishmen
supertramp-breakfast in america
cold chisel-breakfast at sweethearts
van morrison-wavelength
steve gibbons-down in the bunker
margaret becker-the reckoning; never for nothing
goanna-spirit of place; oceania
bruce cockburn-christmas 1991; 1992; a humans/internet tribute
redgum-caught in the act; virgin ground; frontline
lynard skynard-second helping
doobie brothers
talking heads-more songs about buildings and food; little creatures
nitty gritty dirt band-gold from dust
breakfast with amy
lou reed-new york
Dave
Technorati Tags: music
Was asked to give comment pre-budget on what I wanted from the budget.
I’m never good at the one-line message that newspapers seem to want, I have trouble encapsulating all my thoughts in a short space, so I rambled on a bit and they picked something out that I guess they thought relevant.

The photographer was great. Used a Canon EOS-1D Mark II N. Original colour shots are here and here.
Dave
More on the idea of people networks, Chris Carfi writes on his blog this excellent thought :
Networks don’t have people. People have networks.:
“Networks don’t have people. People have networks.” - Demian Entrekin
In it he has some key thoughts from others including Doc Searles (writes), Dave McClure (writes)and Kevin Werbach (brings it home).
The right point of integration is around the individual. Each of us is the center of our own universe.

(image credit goes to the inimitable david armano. cross-posted to the conversation hub.)
It’s about the people, people.
Dave
Extraordinary Everyday Lives show #45 - GetNaked with biff
This show we are joined by Richard Birkin (biff) from Naked. Biff is from Derby, England.
Biff outlines the Naked ideas and how it works and the ‘kernel’ of what the service offers. We talk about closed being the new open, notions of privacy and trust. There’s lotsa banter and ideas about what we as people want in our lives and how technology needs to meet that - and biff seems to take copious notes on applying all our ideas into Naked [poor guy].

It’s funny what you see when you glance at the time sometimes.
Dave

Academic Award for Year 1.
And yet he finds school boring because it’s too easy.
Definitely must only get his good looks from his Dad. 

Laurel talks here about Kevin Rudd’s call for an Australia 2020 Summit [video] to gather ideas from 1000 Australians on 10 issues:
• Future directions for the economy, including education, skills, training, science and innovation
• Economic infrastructure, the digital economy and the future of Australia’s cities
• Population, sustainability, climate change, water
• Rural industries and communities
• National health strategy
• Families, communities and social inclusion
• Indigenous Australia
• The future of Australia’s arts, film and design
• Democracy, open government, the role of the media, the structure of federation, citizens’ rights and responsibilities
• Future security and prosperity Source: Prime Minister’s office
Over at bloggerati.com.au there’s a user generated poll going on for including who we, the people of the web, think should be in the 1000.
I’ve been nominated….so go vote if you think I have anything valuable to add. You just never know.
Vote here for Dave in Rudd’s 1000.
Finally got a decent day and the right access to my boy and the right time to pay a visit to the Tram Museum on the weekend. Was a good day and it’s well worth a visit.

I was struck by the four examples that were out and running on the day. Ranging from the early to mid/late 1900s you could see the utilitarian nature of the vehicles grow over time. Not a huge amount had really changed in undercarriage and even the materials were pretty much standard fare through the time span. What was obvious was the attention to detail and the pride and workmanship that went into them.
I mean the older trams showed attention paid to such things as lead light glass window panes bearing the symbol of the tramways; brass fittings and ornate decoration. It was obvious that it was designed and built by crafstmen, people with passion, character. And at a time when these things were actually valued.
And that character was evident in the creation.

Maybe in this day and age of everybody production and publishing; continuous partial attention, fast change and the proliferation of stripped down simplification we would do well to look at the finer, subtle nuances some aspects of things from the past hold as lessons for us. Things that talk of passion, craft and focus of attention - in all things we create, virtual, physical or social.

Form not just function.