Nick Hodge, nickhodge.com, Professional Geek, Microsoft

Nurses

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:26:14 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

War memorial

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 20 May 2012 02:15:19 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

@lachlanhardy at Canberra Vietnam Veterans memorial

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:50:00 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

We have a winner

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:37:35 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Print lots of these for the next time you go to Greece.

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:32:49 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

@lachlanhardy

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:08:31 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:06:25 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Me and MONA truck

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:05:51 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:04:10 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:03:48 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:03:18 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:03:02 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

@lachlanhardy takes a photo

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:38:49 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

MONAISMS

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:21:15 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Porsche MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:19:15 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Words. MONA

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:18:55 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Great 1950s colour at Machine Laundry Café Salamanca Square, Hobart. Yes, there is a laundry here too.

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:26:44 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Garagistes Swiss design type menu Hobart Tasmania

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:26:19 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Snow!

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:27:28 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

Looking northish to Winterfell from UTAS

nobody@flickr.com (NickHodge) — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:05:53 +0000

NickHodge posted a photo:

Sent from my Windows Phone

The Desire to Create. Genetically Expressed by The Feep

Nick Hodge — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:15:30 +0000

Honey laded Bee hives are very heavy.

An apiarist, or beekeeper, places dozens of bee hives, usually clustered on standard shipping palettes, near nectar laden sources. In Australia, this tends to be in the bush – near flowering Eucalypts. The resulting honey has a slightly smoky taste: but is the best in the world. Around 1980, my Dad started a small cash sideline of Beekeeping to supplement the wheat/sheep farming that the Eyre Peninsula property had sustained over 4 generations.

Country South Australia is a perfect location – especially on the fringes of a large reserve. You can place your hives on private property (with permission) and let the bees traverse into the reserve gathering the nectar. I see it as reaping from the government, albeit without damage (and in the case of plants, a benefit as the bees pollinate the trees).

The trouble with bush locations is that they are remote, unpaved and not accessible by normal palette lifting devices. In warehouses, weighed down forklifts shuttle around isles of concrete. In the bush, the isles are sandy loam or clay – and the shelves are very very tall native Australian trees.

My Dad purchased an old forklift and used this around the sheds for a time lifting and moving the heavy palettes of hives. This forklift did not travel well. You could not load or unload it from a truck; and the wheelbase and design were distinctly urban. Indoors. Definitely not for bush use.

Land rovers, on the other hand, were designed for off-road use. Four wheel drive; rugged, simple & when purchased second hand – cheap. Another benefit of a Land rover is that you can put the thing into neutral, attach it to a tow bar and go anywhere. Once in the bush – they were in their element.

Land Rovers, as built by Leyland, did not come with frontend palette loading equipment.

So, in a flash of brilliance, my Dad took the lifting part of the forklift & attached it to the front of a Land Rover. The Land Rover’s engine & radiator was slightly repositioned to permit the hydraulics to fit in the engine compartment. Extra counter-balanced weights were added to the rear of the Land Rover. The petrol tank was also moved.

What was born was the Feep. (short of Forklift Jeep)

The above is the Feep. As I recall, and this is some 30 years ago now, the first coat of paint (John Deere green) was complete by my Dad. The accenting (John Deere) yellow & the name – as you can see on the vertical forklift saying “FEEP” was painted by myself.

To my knowledge, this is the word’s only Forklift Jeep – created by my Dad to help him lift & load heavy bee hives palettes in bushland.

The genetics of innovation & creation have passed down to another generation. Maybe not as practical as a Feep, but they are there.

On this topic, more to come in coming weeks.

Open Font Library - Open Font Library

(author unknown) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:07:38 +0000

The mission of the Open Font Library is to promote your freedoms as it relates to the use of type. All of the fonts that appear on this site come with the freedom to use, study, share and remix them.

#.TqYg_sws2so.twitter

(author unknown) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:49:12 +0000

Pete Brown's site and blog - a great resource for Silverlight, WPF, Windows Phone programming and more. Formerly irritatedvowel.com.

List.js - Examples of how to use the script

(author unknown) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:41:46 +0000

List.js is super flexible and here are two examples of how to use it.

Staying on the Cutting Edge of PHP Just Got Easier!

Mick Gibson — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:20:31 +0000

PHP is the most pervasive server-side programming language in the world. It drives:

77% of all database-driven sites.
Wikipedia.org, Facebook.com and WordPress.com
many millions of other sites

source: http://w3techs.com

The resulting billions of lines of PHP code all needs to be consistently maintained, improved, and future-proofed, For 100,000s of PHP web developers, this can pose questions such as:

How can I better structure my PHP code?
How do I keep my application safe?
How can I make my application do more?

Like anything in life, it’s easy to get by with just doing enough. However, it’s hardly a recipe for ongoing success!

Savvy PHP web developers can now keep ahead of the game and ensure that their PHP code is safe, secure, and well-structured for the future with the latest release from SitePoint:

PHP Master: Write Cutting-edge Code
by Lorna Mitchell, Davey Shafik, and Matthew Turland

With this book, you’ll learn to:

Employ the latest and most effective object oriented PHP programming techniques
Utilize the best testing methods to refine your code and keep applications watertight
Protect applications against attacks and vulnerabilities with the latest security systems
Use advanced performance evaluation techniques to gain maximum site efficiency
Extend your applications’ functionality by using PHP’s APIs and libraries

All these topics and more are beautifully presented and explained in this new book of 400+ pages. If you’re interested, you can either

Grab a copy of the EPACK for only $17 (limited launch special!)
Download 3 sample chapters (which includes a personal email from each of the authors detailing their own PHP backgrounds and insights)

With PHP Master, web developers can sharpen their PHP skills and remain on the cutting edge of web technology.

Covering 1968 | The 1968 Exhibit

(author unknown) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:40:42 +0000

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Roslyn CTP

(author unknown) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:25:42 +0000

The Microsoft “Roslyn” CTP installs as an extension to Visual Studio 2010 SP1. “Roslyn” is a long lead project which we are considering for the post-Visual Studio 11 timeframe. The CTP includes an early preview of the APIs exposed by the C# and Visual Basic compilers, and the Interactive window experience.

Facebook Developers

(author unknown) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:57:36 +0000

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, post links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

New Product Post | Seeed Studio Blog

(author unknown) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:06:19 +0000

This Monday is amazing! We have got a pretty cool collection of new products for this week. Something big is coming, let’s check it out. Welcome the

Backbone.js

(author unknown) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:37:23 +0000

Underscore.js

(author unknown) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:36:30 +0000

d3.js

(author unknown) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:41:33 +0000

Web Reflection: What Is Wrong About 17259 Lines Of Code

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:09:21 +0000

Curing CSS3 Headaches in Older Browsers | Webdesigntuts+

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:48:59 +0000

ECMAScript 5: Array methods | Jimmy Cuadra

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:47:33 +0000

ECMAScript 5: Object creation and property definition | Jimmy Cuadra

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:47:07 +0000

ECMAScript 5: Object creation and property definition | Jimmy Cuadra

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:44:33 +0000

Demo - Isogenic Engine

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:44:21 +0000

This page is a space for demos that use the Isogenic Game Engine and for showing off the creations that the engine has been used for. Both internal and third-party created ideas using Isogenic at their core are listed here. IsoCity Demo Developer: Irrelon Software Limited Published: 04/Sep/2011 Supported Browsers: Internet Explorer 9+, Firefox 6+, [...]

money.js / fx() - javascript currency conversion library

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:43:27 +0000

money.js is a tiny (1kb) javascript library for real-time currency conversion

Open Source Exchange Rates API - free, hourly-updated JSON currency data

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:42:11 +0000

free, open source exchange rates and currency conversion JSON API, updated hourly, no rate limits.

Irony - .NET Language Implementation Kit.

(author unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:32:12 +0000

Irony's Scanner and LALR(1) Parser are controlled by the target language grammar encoded directly in c# using BNF-like expressions through operator overloading. No code generation - no YACCi stuff!

My Geek Origin Story

Nick Hodge — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:22:14 +0000

As Microsoft TechEd 2011 is fast approaching & Delic8genius has made a call-out to the Australian community “What is your Geek Origin Story”

So, it’s time for me to document My Geek Origin Story

My first geek obsession started with cats. Or, as we now call them, kittehs. Quiet companions on the Autistic scale, kittehs added their warm furry friendliness to my pursuits – and were always more accommodating than humans. Therefore, I classify kittehs as a key moment in my geek origins.

Along with kittehs in this photo are the collection of Airfix and Revell models. The history of World War 2, and the making of model aeroplanes was a rather unique pursuit in the middle of rural Eyre Peninsula. But I loved it. Oh, that and LEGO.

After being introduced to an Apple ][, on loan to our school from Angle Park Computing Centre, by a prescient Maths & Science Teacher: Mr Peter Stewart, I was hooked. From this early access, I also played with a TI programmable calculator and CP/M based Osborne 1.

My Dad, sensing my inability to become the 5th generation owner of the farm, purchased a TRS-80 Model I. Oh wow, the fun I had with that computer was amazing.

I owe Mr Peter Stewart and my Dad a great debt.

Note on Angle Park Computer Centre: many South Australian Geeks of my generation began thanks to Angle Park Computer Centre. Stilgherrian, Frank Falco, Simon Hackett and David Newell to name four. Being a country kid, we relied on loaners.

More cats: this time Bindi; with our/my first Macintosh: a 128K Macintosh. One of the first in South Australia: so first, it only came with a 110V power board!

Thanks to Tim Kleemann from Random Access (later owner of Next Byte) – this Macintosh opened the door on a career & a love of Apple.

Taken sometime in 1984 or 1985, this is me at my Macintosh. A harbinger of the next 13 years in the IT industry.

Random Access, Adelaide. 1987. This is me at my desk, working away at some Macintosh things. Thanks to Tim Kleemann, Trevor Starke & Adrian van den Bok – and many others – I worked here happily doing Mac things.

Hello from Windows Phone 7 app

Nick Hodge — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:34:14 +0000

This is merely a post from the WordPress Windows Phone 7 app. GPLv2 licensed.

Me on Geek Culture

Nick Hodge — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:28:54 +0000

Thanks for the interview, Stil!

Japan & New Zealand

Nick Hodge — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:08:26 +0000

Having visited Christchurch, South Island New Zealand many times; and Japan at least 4 times — I can clearly state they are some of the greatest places in the world to visit. The people are friendly; the sights and experiences are extraordinary. The places are relatively safe.

One would think.

In both instances, they live on the edge of the “Pacific Rim of Fire”, the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate that rings Western America around to New Zealand: the ‘shaky isles’

It is with much inner turmoil and sadness to see both places crumble and sucumb to devestation.

This only makes me want to revisit when the time is right, to show support. That their choice to live in a shaky place is not a ghetto nor a place to be shunned.

Yet Another Trip to Seattle, Washington

Nick Hodge — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:15:21 +0000

Trip number 27 to the USA. I’ve almost lost count. I don’t think I’ll be back for another 12 months. It was cool to go up the Space Needle. And then get a head cold.

The World Forces Split Identities in Social Media

Nick Hodge — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 02:45:44 +0000

Growing up on a farm, as I did, provides a freedom that never leaves you. My parents lived on and immersed directly in their work: the farm. It surrounded them, day in day out. I am sure I absorbed this environment in a way where I expect little to no separation between work and my personal life. From this stems workaholism and dedication. A deep protestant work ethic.

There are significant downsides to total work immersion. Especially in this new world of always-on social media. You tweet a response to a work related question at 11.32pm, and follow up with a tirade against an airline cancelling your flight. The seamless melding of what is work and what is your life is one of the beauties of social media. We are all connected.

Yesterday, one of the downsides firmly bit me on the bum. One of my personal opinions; a flippant tweet has caused an ongoing kerfuffle at Microsoft. This is not the first time I have come unstuck on the social media frontier; and sadly I am not alone. Nor am I the last to be bitten. There are many bums with bite marks.

Until now, I have resisted the urge to have separate twitter identities. To me, creating and using different identities is the antithesis of social media. To be frank, I wish that I could be one identity on twitter.; but there are forces in the wider world does not accept the separation of personal identity and an employerâ€™s identity. As I found in recent events, there is always the risk that someone will take an utterance out of context, and use this as a cudgel in pitiful internal office politics. Or, as others have found, fodder for gossip.

The cleaving of identities is a topic upon which I have struggled throughout my Microsoft career. Being true to myself, whilst attempting to comply with the weight of an employerâ€™s expectations.

As stated yesterday, I have created a new twitter identity @RealNickHodge which is a private, for people only account. Each follower is vetted. I am being careful not to let in bots and sensationalist journalists. I am also wary of “brand name” twitter identities. I follow real people; people who are smart enough to realise my opinions are mine, and mine alone.

My old twitter account is now clearly identified @NickHodgeMSFT, with a profile stating my position and employer. As at the time of posting this blog entry, it has 4803 followers. I do not imagine the follower count will increase dramatically. Thankfully, formal Microsoft accounts such as @MSAU are doing an outstanding job of presenting a formal social face of the organisation.

Within 24 hours of creating the new account, I have about 200 real followers, less noise and I trust more freedom to be real. Or at least the freedom from guilt in speaking as me, being who I am.

From @NickHodge to @RealNickHodge

Nick Hodge — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:42:52 +0000

I have been on twitter since February 2007 as @NickHodge. Nearly 4 years. In that time, my account has gathered nearly 5000 followers. Whilst I have no accurate data on these followers: it is fair to say a majority are spambots or dormant accounts. There is absolutely no way I am that interesting to 5000 people.

Considering my twitter persona has been cheeky and somewhat iconoclastic, even to my present employer; and the content of 90% of my tweets are not related to work — I find it surprising to gather so many pieces of moss.

5000 followers does put the @NickHodge account into the top 20% of Australian twitterers. Being an open (not locked) account, this puts my utterances on twitter into the funnel for social media monitoring engines. Their systems will determine my follower count (and retweet count, and other metrics) puts me into a “must watch” list.

I base this assessment on my work use of social media monitoring engines. Keywords, key people. Associated, and you are prime bait for engines to watch filter and report to their corporate stakeholders.

Some people crave this attention. In fact, it is their life blood. I am perfectly fine with their need for followers, readers, fans if you will. But this is not for me. The direct association between my employer and what I say and think is not direct. At best, it is loosely coupled.

There is no quick mechanism to completely delete all your followers, and who you are following in twitter. As an immediate solution, I have suspended posting from the @NickHodge account and created @RealNickHodge. I am being strict as to whom I follow; the account is locked.

For me, it is back to feeling free to comment without the fear of causing collateral damage.

Vale Chris Gulker

Nick Hodge — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:09:14 +0000

In the middle of 1996, I was driving Chris Gulker and Bahman Dara â€“ fellow Apple employees â€“ to their hotel after just visiting the new Fairfax Chullora printing plant.

Having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on very large presses, collators and distribution systems â€“ Fairfax were having difficulty in keeping colour consistent in their advertisements. For instance, a green tinged advertisement for meat at Coles would not generate sales. The CMYK to newsprint is a tricky business.

It was not the colour problem that Chris Gulker mentioned. It was the rise of the Internet â€“ and the impact the internet would have on the printing presses. At this time, Avrilâ€™s The Definitive Christian Slater web site was getting reasonable page visits. Using the for-work of Chris, and Dave Winer, I embraced Frontier for the Fairfax@Atlanta web site.

Chrisâ€™ comments, and followup discussion when I visited 1 Infinite Loop (as an Adobe employee in late 1998) definitely changed my outlook on the world. The internet was, and has, become king. Later Chris joined Adobe.

Late in October, Chris died after a long battle with brain cancer.

Even though my interactions with Chris were intermittent â€“ they were impactful. This is the mark of a good life. Vale, Chris.

Zero Top Tips for Social Media Success

Nick Hodge — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:10:26 +0000

I hope you found this useful.

Coming out of the Dark Closet

Nick Hodge — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:16:23 +0000

In the midst of the 2010 Federal election, Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry has managed to place Mental Health on the national agenda. ABCâ€™s Four Corners â€œHidden Voicesâ€ dedicated a pre-election show to highlight depression, mental health: both significant factors in suicide.

Looking at the data, whilst suicide rates are falling â€“ the rates in males 25 to 45 is still way above the norm. And more people die by their own hand in Australia than on the roads.

During the show, I tweeted the following: I suffer from Depression. There. I said it.

For me this has been a long journey. Thanks to excellent medical care, and can function in employment and society.

So, let me highlight: If you think you suffer from depression, are feeling â€˜downâ€™ â€“ seek help. Start with your GP. Call Lifeline or similar service now. Do not be ashamed in seeking help. You are not alone.

Whilst there is still a stigma

Being depressed, and mentally unwell is still holds a social stigma.

Whilst public acceptance is on the incline: publically stating that you suffer from depression will have a negative effect on your employability. Whether working for a large organisation or as a single contractor: people around you will treat you with suspicion. Depression can be a disability that directly effects work performance; and the career prospects of individuals.

Or as is sadly all too common: no job at all..

Whilst remaining a supporter of various Menâ€™s mental health charities. Personal donations. Growing moustaches, I am going to leave much of my personal thoughts to myself for the time being.

Not Missing, Just Resting.

Nick Hodge — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:02:19 +0000

I have been rather quiet of late.

Reasons:

Day 5 of a man-flu. Just canâ€™t shake it quickly.
For the fourth time, I am taking a break from the Twitter stream. Funnily enough, life goes on without knowing everything else that is going on.
Thinking. There is a rather lot of things to think about, if you permit yourself to mentally wander.

View from my Hotel Room, TechEd 2010

Nick Hodge — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:37:40 +0000

Same hotel as 2009, but on the hinterland side of the building.

2010: Voting for Liberals

Nick Hodge — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:17:14 +0000

In a G’day world podcast I appeared on in 2007 I stated I was voting Liberal. It should come as no surprise I am doing the same in 2010

At the beginning of Tony Abbott’s reign as leader of the Federal Liberals, I will admit I was uncertain of his ability to be the Prime Minister of Australia. Through this campaign, Mr. Rabbit has shown a wiser and more mature head. Having met Tony in person, spoken to him one:one and in 2004 manning an election booth — I am certain what we see with Tony is what we are going to get. Whilst I am no longer a member of the Liberal Party, I would consider myself a “small-L” liberal.

On one of the occasions where I met Mr Abbott when he was Minister for Health (2003 I think), we talked about the importance of Information Technology. He was no more a techhead as he was a Doctor; and was not convinced with my ranting on the power of the internet. A senior Liberal advisor stated firstly that all industries lobby about their importance to the future. Information technology is no different. Secondly, that once the politicians care about your industry, it becomes a political football. Increasing control, regulation comes with increased investment. Welcome to where we have been for the last 5 years.

This election Geeks have suffered a cognitive dissonance: vote Labor, get a government funded National Broadband Network (NBN) but with a coupled Filter/Censorship position. Vote Liberal, and you get no Fibre installed into your home but no Filter. Greens supporters will make the observation: “vote Greens”. They’re too progressive and socialist for a country boy like me. Or, their attached policies are not to my liking. Larger Government, more public servants and more control of our lives by a nanny state rubs against my grain.

In the 2007 election, Rudd promised $4.7b for Fibre-to-the-Node NBN. This expanded into $43b Fibre-to-the-Home; spanning 93% of Australians as a mechanism for countering the GFC. Whilst there is no pure business plan to spend $5.37b per year over 8 years, Labor has failed to sell a complete social plan for the need for an NBN. There is no vision. Whilst the Minister in charge is shackled by the Filter debate, the geekerati will not help.

To illustrate the importance of internet access, this election Liberals are promising to invest $6.7b (I think) into internet connectivity. Not as generous on funding, and therefore speed â€“ but within their budget constraints. To the Liberals, the largesse of the NBN is a place to grab forward committed funds to reduce debt. They have no vision for the use of the internet and how it has the potential to transform. The Liberals best warrior, Malcolm Turnbull, has been sidelined. I would hope that Malcolm gets re-elected and we find a pragmatic policy that is affordable. A cut down NBN; copper conduits purchased from Telstra with smarter negotiation. And with a vision for its use 30–50 years out.

Fibre, along with wireless, is the future. Both. This is not an either-or.

Oh, and if Labor get back in, the Filter will arise. Games and apps for phones and other like devices will require expensive classification. With or without a wonderful fibre NBN, our creativity will be throttled at the borders. Even if the Greens hold the balance of power in the Senate, Mr Conroy (if Communications Minister) will find another way to implement his filter.

But the NBN is not the main game as far as I am concerned.

My concerns with Labor is its propensity to plough Australia into more debt. Bad management by both Rudd, but also Garrett et al have resulted in significant wastage of my tax dollars. Less sovereign debt will leave Australia in a better position to deal with the shock of a slowly collapsing US and Europe. The argument that a Government can always tax more to repay debt: this is on the assumption that business is healthy enough to be taxed (and employ staff to be taxed) and there is a healthy world economy that consumes Australia’s exports.

Apart from spending hand over first, Labor has a track record of wastage. Reports on the Building the Education Revolution (BER) state a low wastage %. This is certainly not the case with the Insulation program, another GFC program. Government purchasing should be efficient and not waste taxpayer dollars.

Interestingly, the most progressive policy that taxes the big end of town this election comes from the Liberals: Paid Parental Leave funded by a levy on large business. I think that it is important that women can both have kids if they choose, and continue to work if they choose. Within the economic realities of today, the Liberals have the most attractive policy.

Like all elections, those marginal electorates are receiving the most attention. This is our system working. You have to make your electorate a marginal electorate if you want the same attention. Simple.

I am not so concerned with the â€œmen in smoky backroomsâ€ or voting by random party members that control the levers behind our Federal politicians. It is the same on all sides of politics. Continuing greater transparency on donations and lobbyists would be nice. But nice never wins.

My wish is for all parties to reduce middleclass welfare, and reduce taxation. Or, at least, funnel money into places where the market will fail. Roads, Hospitals, Education.

And here lies the drum. Both parties are using the flow on tax to wrest constitutionally state-based concerns (Education, Health) into the Federal sphere. If this reduced the management overhead, I would support this. The model that seems to be created to increase bureaucracy. More wasting of money. Both parties need to not waste money on overhead.

Politics is never simple: A vs. B; black or White. It is grey with multiple dimensions. This leaves us all wiggle room to argue and discuss; he said she said style conversations. Promises kept; changes in position. Hypotheticals. Rhetorical constructs. It is great to live in a country where we can openly discuss, argue and most importantly: vote.

As I hold a portion of my wealth in US$ and locally in cash — higher interest rates and a lower exchange rate that a ALP/Greens Government is likely to induce. And Fibre to my home, paid for by you buggers at $5000, sounds good too. But it is not good for the future of Australia. That’s why I am voting Liberal. As I am now in Mr Rabbitâ€™s electorate, he has a safe vote in my hands.

Day 2 Keynote, Pycon-au

Nick Hodge — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 05:22:04 +0000

My keynote at Pycon-AU. It is good to be back doing what I do best. Presenting deep technologies to technical audiences.

Absolute Power

Nick Hodge — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:16:27 +0000

From Richard Farmer’s “Chunky bits” in today’s crikey.com.au:

I know that Lord Acton had papal infallibility in mind when writing to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887 but given the flaunting of their Christianity by our two alternative political leaders that perhaps just makes his words more appropriate:

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”

Shibuya, Photosynth

Nick Hodge — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:42:02 +0000

You are being watched.

Nick Hodge — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:58:10 +0000

Only the paranoid survive. Even the paranoid have enemies. And the list of paranoid quotes goes on.

Within the last 18 hours, Iâ€™ve had two experiences with twitter that are worth sharing. If only for twitter bragging rights.

Firstly, whilst ABC1â€™s Media Watch was shown last night â€“ what I considered a long â€œadvertorialâ€ piece about tablet devices and their impending saviour status for newsprint. I tweeted:

Someone should #mediawatch#mediawatch for 15 minutes of “Apple iPad” advertisement. NOT F***KING HAPPY MARK SCOTT

Within an hour, the host of Media Watch, Jonathan Holmes, responded:

@NickHodge ah! U work for Microsoft! Wondered why u were SO upset!

Oops, sprung. Well almost. My twitter bio is clear about my employer. As I had already responded to the iPad shills, I responded similarly to Jonathan. The ABC must be above spruiking products; it is a part of their editorial policy. I will admit that my tweet is tainted with the perspective of my present employer: for sure; no-one is truly independent from their source of income. But I do expect all commercial organisations: including Microsoft, to be treated equally in terms of publicity on our ABC.

A thankyou, Jonathan, for being concerned about your show and looking at â€œthe stream of conversation.â€ This shows you care.

Second incident. Only a few hours later, in response to Tony Abbott appearing on ABC TVâ€™s Q and A: a promising TV show that has fallen below my expectations. Tony, in response to a questions on Catholisism mentioned that another leader, Kristina Keneally â€“ the NSW Premier, being not so harangued about her faith. My tweet:

ooh, @KKeneally is at least a serious Catholic as @TonyAbbottMHR ..#opusdei !!!

Very early this morning, 5:47am Sydney time, the Premier responded:

@NickHodge hi Nick this is an old and false rumour. I’ve never been a member of opus dei. My area of interest is feminist theology. Cheers

Oops, sprung again. My response to her was a public, hopefully graceful mea culpa. I doubt that I would vote ALP in the next State election â€“ but that fact that Ms Keneally took time out to respond to mine â€“ and other questions on twitter shows a level of care. And she spelt rumours correctly.

So, two famous people responded to my rather cheeky, specious and snarky tweets. In both cases, apart from the individual tweets these people do not know me. Nor the somewhat satirical/childish nature of my tweets.

In the context of â€œsocial mediaâ€ for organisations â€“ can personally responding to individual tweets like mine scale? Whilst NSW has 6 million residents, only 4000 follow her on twitter. If twitter goes mainstream like Facebook, one could expect a Premier of NSW to have up to 2 million followers (30% of Australians are on Facebook) . No one, magical person can respond to them all.

Here at Microsoft in Australia, a few product groups have been experimenting with social media monitoring tools. Watching the conversations, and responding where appropriate in a formal way. This also involves an escalation process for response to queries that include PR, Customer Service and Evangelism. I know of other organisations doing similar for their products and services â€“ Internode, for instance.

So, be careful out there. You are being watched. And if your comment is not satirical, hopefully responded to. Personally.

Long Love Affair with Lego

Nick Hodge — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:53:49 +0000

In Toy Stories, James Maybuilt a life-size house out of Lego. It was awesome. On the DVD of the TV series, he skulks around the basement storage of Lego HQ where there is a box set of every box set Lego has ever made. He pops open 1973 and shows this London Bus set, which he details as “the most perfect Lego set”. Someone gave me this set in 1973.

I remember this set well as it accidently ended up at the pawn/second hand shop in Lobethal, South Australia. Being of a tender age, I had carefully packed my Lego with other items I thought were going on a trip. Nope: they were old items what we no longer needed. My treasured Lego bus was gone! Thankfully, some brave adult retrieved the bus. I remember the incident, and this kit well.

Saint Shenanigans

Nick Hodge — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:44:25 +0000

I was born a Protestant. I will more than likely die one, too. Intense excavation into family history has shown me that my genes are Protestant for at least 8 generations on both sides. Baptised and confirmed a Lutheran, I was taught a thing or two about the most successful (not the first) split from the Catholic Church by Martin Luther.

During public school mandated â€œreligious educationâ€, I was taught by the local Catholic Priest. He seemed nice enough; kindly taking us through the New Testament book Romans. It took many years for me to realise that this was an attempt at turning me from my heretic ways to the true canon. If I recall, he didnâ€™t even use the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Yes, Peter and Paul: the fathers of the catholic church.

After travelling to Europe in 1997 and 2004, I saw enough Saintsâ€™ relics: shrunken heads, fingers, toenails and shrouds to last me a lifetime. Large cathedrals raised in the name of the Virgin or some Saint across the cities of Europe show the folly of man, attempting to reach for terrestrial god status. The veneration of Saints and other popery not only rubs me the wrong way: I am sure my ancestors turn in their collective graves.

So as Mary MacKillop has moved through the man-made process of canonisation within the Catholic Church, my genes quiver.

We hear that the church wants old and young to travel to Rome to witness the canonisation ceremony. That will fill the coffers of the Romans.

I also heard many discussions on the â€œbrandâ€ of Mary MacKillop being valuable. Like a product. Even our ABC both on radio and TV seems to have caught the â€œMary MacKillopâ€ fever. So much for editorial independence.

And that is exactly what this canonisation is about. Money. Never get in the way of a large corporation and money.

Luckily the Catholics re-admitted her to the church. Otherwise they would have missed out on their cash.

This tradition and hunger for money is not new. Sainthood and pilgrimages have created many a city in the world as supplicant masses crawl on their knees to assuage their mortal sins. Paying money for Indulgences, as done in the Middle Ages, and more recently with special visits to random virgin sightings.

Donâ€™t get me wrong: I am not anti-personal faith.

But please separate Mammon from Mary. She was, and I highlight was, just a notable Australian woman who did more for the downtrodden than any group of Cardinals, Abbotts or Bishops ever did. And I would argue, ever will.