I didn't think it was possible to get a blister, under a blister

Not only is it possible, I've a double blister on my right heel that proves it. At least, these photos of our backpacking weekend starting at Loon Lake, Calif - going up through to Rockbound Lake in Desolation Wilderness - prove why it was totally worth and I'd do it again in a jiffy. Might get some new boots though, like, oh these Kayland Zephyr's or perhaps these Salomon Wings :-) 

All the photos >> MobileMe Gallery <<

 

#Green suggestion @GavinNewsom; Replace 2 people & mowers, with say, 6 goats. Bonus: petting zoo days for kids.

I mean, who doesn't love goats? @mutgoff certainly does and so do I - a topic we've chatted about over Twitter (twatted?). Whilst I admit that there's something deliciously nostalgic and reminiscent of childhood in the smell of a lawnmower, and freshly mown grass, albeit faintly tinged with mulched dog shit (enough to make you suspect, and therefore quietly confirm in your mind - but never out loud - that a turd, indeed, escaped the shovel and ended up splattered by the blade) - this is no time for nostalgia and childish attachments to such things. Mega-millions of litres (the rest of the world's measure, America, about 3 and 1/2 of those equal one of yours) of crude oil have pissed into the Gulf of Mexico yet again, and continue to do so on a daily basis, although we really haven't blinked an eye in most places. Oh we may complain and roil over the dinner table about "those a-holes at BP" but as long as we continue to blithely fill our tanks, and primarily worry about the price of gas, as opposed to the collective damage it causes; well I put it to you that we're not actually doing much at all. 

So I thought of a goat-herd out here today. Imagine roving goat-herds going around the city, enjoining their bearded stock to quietly and pleasantly munch and fart their way through the long grass issues at Dolores, Duboce, and other neighbourhood parks. Imagine the delight of local kids getting to pet a goat and receive a sound butting upside the head for their troubles (it's a life lesson every child should have at least once). Imagine the useful, ahem, fertiliser applied directly to the resultant close-mown lawn (here's a hint: goat poo is safe for edible potagers. So it's also fine for your average water-wasting lawn). It was a fun little fantasy...until I realised it could certainly work. So that's my suggestion for our out going hunky god mayor. A little bit weird for you change-fearing city slickers perhaps. Too bad; change is upon us already. Why aren't more of us concerned with the business of making it one that's enjoyable, quiet, and environmentally useful? 

(full disclosure: I have no car. I live in the city so I can get away with it. How? Walking (remember that?), bikes, Xootr, and Zipcar maybe twice a month. Oh, and I grew up with some goats. And one of my favourite ever films is Manon des sources - and it has goats.)

Fat shot of Illy coffee. Great breakfast pleasure.

I have a friend who roasts his own coffee beans. It's amazing, the coffee is truly fabulous and no doubt rewarding for him. But I don't have the commitment or the roaster, so for me Illy coffee makes a pretty good second place. American coffee is typically over-roasted, burnt, and smoky. Illy is subtle and complex, and highly rewarding.  

This is a great read from Charles Scicolone's blog if you're interested: http://ow.ly/21asq

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My first two slides from today's presentation

I've never been the biggest fan of Powerpoint. In my experience (which isn't professionally focused on the business of presenting - creating emotional flightpaths with stories, engaging audience attention, and formatting information for easy visual consumption - but sees that as a large part of my job) Powerpoint frequently leads to long lists of bullet points at variously/randomly tabbed levels, and a *lot* of drone. It just naturally leads the mind to wander, which is a crying shame since so many otherwise awesome pitches are given using Powerpoint, and so much great information disappears in the mists and fogs of audience inattention. 

 
Greater people than I have talked about the foibles of Powerpoint style presentations, particularly Edward Tufte. Here's a great example Tufte wrote, dissecting some classic NASA Powerpoint slides after the shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry after orbit. I don't pick on NASA or Powerpoint any more than Tufte, it's just an example. But I see these kinds of slides all the time (and it's also not a knock on the smart people who make them - they've been trained to do this, and usually work in companies that encourage it). Jared Spool is another such person.
 
Like many, I get bored with so much artificially bulleted information. Sometimes it's just better in a document. This blogging format took off for a reason, after all. Sometimes it's not that I want to drift off, my mind just can't take the format anymore. "No, not more bullets!!!" - who hasn't thought that at some point. And sometimes it's the right information but it's coming at the wrong time, like when I've seen the same kinds of slides for 6 hours already. So here's the first two slides I presented today, in an all day meeting that started at 8:00am, where I came on at 3:00pm. At risk of wasting time and engagement to focus on being "the fun cool guy" which is distracting all in it's own right, I do think there are occasions where you can strike a balance. 
 
My aim today was to start my presentation by reinvigorating some audience attention with a few seconds of fun. Judging by the iPhone vuvuzela horns I heard on the conference phone - this time it worked. Enjoy, and good luck USA and England! And see you next time Aussie Socceroos :)
 
If you don't know me, just note that I'm Australian, I live and work in the US and I also work with a bunch of English dudes :)  The slides! >>

 

Spiral taping ensures free circulation in Jas' 'happy tail'

Imagine where a dog with a bleeding tail can get blood, in your house. Yes, that's right - just about *everywhere*

Taping it with diagonally wound spirals ensures that blood can still circulate to the tip of her tail, ensuring healthy healing of what's a minor wound that can sometimes lead to amputation if not treated simply. Such a simple treatment can allow such healing AND save your walls/furniture/hardwood floors.

More here: http://grassmereanimalhospital.com/happy_tail_bandaging.htm

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Some countries just aren't 'supposed' to do well at the #WorldCup

Like many, I'm really enjoying watching the best nations in football (as opposed to American Football) play their matches at the World Cup. It's the pinnacle of the sport, the top competition, with countries from all over the planet playing in a true world championship. Something about it always gets me going. And of course, I'm disappointed that my home country Australia isn't doing well. I'm writing this before Australia's 3rd (and probably final) group match today - there's something I want to "get off my chest" - pun intended. 
 
Two things happened in recent games that got me thinking about the business of football. There's been quite the fuss about refereeing at the 2010 World Cup; I think it's an incredibly high-pressure job, FIFA lays out strict rules on areas they want ref's to crack down on during World Cup matches, and the rules of the game lay out some pretty clear situations too. What I did get to thinking was that football is simply a business, and like any business making a product, you can't mistreat your biggest most important customers, favour your smaller customers, and expect your revenue to continue growth as it did before.
 
Let's look at the Fabiano second goal from Brazil vs Cote D'Ivoire. Not only did Fabiano admit to a handball after the match there was actually 2 in the same play for that goal.
 
Handball 1:

He's fighting for the ball, in a tangle with an opposing player. I give him the benefit of the doubt on the first one. 
 
Handball 2:

Hold on a second, moments later we also see this? In case you're thinking that one's also "accidental" consider a supplemental view...
 
Handball 2 supp:

Yep - that arm looks (to me, remember I'm not a football qualified official) to be unnaturally extended, both up, and behind a ball that might have otherwise passed his shoulder. Which handball do you think Fabiano is 'fessing up to? 
 
Compare and contrast that with the handball that saw Australia's Harry Kewell sent off with a straight red card under the DOGSO rule:

Does Kewell look like he unnaturally extended his arm in the fraction of a second that this incredibly fast-moving ball came at him? I don't know, but it seemed like a very harsh red card. And I'm not even talking about the completely inexplicable disallowed goal for the USA (who move through the round anyway! :) ). If you want to dissect it further for yourself, watch the video.*
 
So besides my griping, what does all this mean? Football is a massive business, generating billions of $USD in revenue both for FIFA and in merchandise and licensing businesses around the game. And virtually none of that comes from Australia. In this older analysis it's clear from FIFA's financials that the biggest revenue source for them is, the World Cup, and the biggest markets are "Europe" followed by the "US" and then Latin America. This revenue stream includes marketing rights, licensing rights, venue rights, and sponsorships. FIFA is a non-profit and uses that money to fund clubs, players, and events, and promotion of football. It's huge in Europe and Latin America, the US loves the World Cup, it's played year-round in Latin America, and millions of people are dedicated to it. 28.8 billion (that's with a "b") viewers watched the World Cup in 2002, as an aggregate that's most of the world watching 5 matches! FIFA's sponsors and partners in 2010 have massive businesses in Europe, the US and Latin America. 
 
Australia has about 22 million people and virtually no market when you look at relative $$ USD generated by football. To cater to Australia's needs and worry about Kewell's red card would be a business equivalent of insanity. But Brazil is a huge country that's getting richer, with a massive football market, a long-standing dedication to and passion for football, a great team, and several (5, I think) World Cup stars already on their jerseys. To compare, this would be like me ignoring the requests of my customers who pay me $1M+ USD for our software, in order to resolve the support needs of my customers with 10 people in their company. I like those 10 people and they often have an amazing company, I hope they use my software, but they just don't pay me enough to spend more than a relatively appropriate amount of time with them. I spend a lot of time making my $1M+ customers happy. *** Update after comments *** To be clear, I don't think anyone in football has instated a policy that sees leniency granted towards bigger countries or better teams. It's simply expected that they'll do well, at all levels. And expectations can be powerful things, particularly when there's a lot at stake. 
 
So, I hope to see a great game later today where Australia redeems itself somewhat, even if we are leaving this tournament today. I hope my Brazilian friends don't mind me pointing out this kind of discrepancy; their players and team are still one of the absolute best, and a joy to watch. And I hope not to see another red card. But I won't be surprised if I do. Australia just isn't 'supposed' to do well at the World Cup. I'll still be cheering though... Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!
 
 
 
*BTW, you won't find any of these as photos or videos on FIFA's site, which is a little odd as you normally find photo's of great players scoring, both to celebrate that play, and promote the game amongst the millions of fans. Such is the nature of a business, you don't spend time pointing out your own inadequacies.

Great Christ! I just ate the first summer cherry tomato. *This* makes me happy

This tomato tasted so good I actually moaned and carried on like an idiot for a full minute. The worries about my neighbours thinking I might be growing dope were worth it, after all. I really think we've lost touch with our food supply, especially in the city. Food Inc, and Michael Pollan's books merely touched an already raw nerve for many. It's why I started getting deliveries from Farm Fresh To You recently and I've gotta say, we've both been really pleased to rediscover when fruit ripens, that fruit and veg with a skin blemish is totally normal (and a sign of 'real' food), and that fruit and veg with no flavour is *totally* fucking abnormal.

Farm Fresh To You (and other similar local food delivery enterprises) makes it easy to still reconnect with your food supply even in such busy times as ours - we spend less time at the supermarket now than when we were buying industrial rubbish produce. Give it a try: http://farmfreshtoyou.com


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Current status: iOS4, Cloud 9.

Folders, and Unified Inbox are worth it alone. The rest is just a joyful bonus, for example, I can't wait for background Pandora. Say what you will about "lock-in" - Apple really makes me happy. I don't want things that they don't deliver, I think less about making my compute devices work, and I don't waste frustrated time on unnatural actions (task killer for Android, anyone? - my favourite task killer is the one I *never* think about, or have to use). As a software and experience producer myself, I can certainly see why people love/d working there. 

*** Update *** Pandora, Evernote, and various other apps have already released iOS4-aware updates. Pandora backgrounding absolutely rocks!