Novak Djokovic - Ends The Year In Style

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Saturday, December 31, 2011 | 7:11 AM

And with a trophy in his hands :-)

Well done Novak, for everything you have achieved in 2011.

Some nice tennis from him today to soundly overcome the fight from David Ferrer.  I can't see his name down for any other tournament before the Australian Open in Melbourne so hopefully he will be able to take a few days away from the court, relax then prepare to defend the first of his ten titles.

AJDE NO1E!!!!!!








7:11 AM | 0 comments

ITG xpPhone 2 Smartphone Review - Running Win 7 and Win 8 OS

xpPhone 2 from In Technology Group (ITG) is a Smartphone based on Windows 7 and Windows 8 Operating System and can smoothly run Windows OS. ITG is a china based company mainly known for its smartphone devices has released its xpPhone 2 Smartphone in China with the compatibility of Windows 7 and Windows 8 OS. ITG is planning to launch its xpPhone 2 smartphone globally in 2012. ITG is claiming that their smartphone is "world�s smallest notebook PC". So today we are going to review xpPhone 2 Smartphone.


ITG's xpPhone 2 Smartphone Specification and Details:
  • xpPhone 2 is an Intel Atom Z530 powered smartphone.
  • xpPhone 2 has a 4.3 inch touch screen with 1.6 Ghz processor.
  • xpPhone 2 features 2 GB of RAM.
  • xpPhone 2 has 112GB of storage packed into an SSD.
  • xpPhone 2 is based on 4.3� display with Microsoft�s Windows 7 running the show.
  • xpPhone 2 has 18.5 hour of continuous talk time.
What�s more you want from this type of fully loaded Smartphone? I think xpPhone 2 Smartphone contains fully loaded packed features with an amazing look. It's basically a mini-PC that seems to think it�s a smartphone. The biggest feature, as indicated in this mock-up screenshot, ITG has also indicated that they will be making the jump over to Microsoft�s more-tablet-friendly Windows 8 when it is released.

The xpPhone 2 is supposed to be released globally sometime in January 2012 but currently company has not revealed the price and cost of xpPhone 2 but now you can get xpPhone 2 from China. Stay in touch to know more about it in future. Click here if you want to read and learn more about xpPhone 2 Smartphone.

Pictures and Screenshots of xpPhone 2 Smartphone:



2:22 AM | 0 comments

Reach Global Audience with Facebook Marketing Guide

Facebook itself contains global audience which provides Facebook a source of income from different parts of the world. Is you're Facebook marketer and wants to know about your targeted global audience which provides you a good Cost-Per-Click (CPC) rate and also a decent Click-Through-Rate (CTR) than following information will surely help you to get maximum advantage of your Facebook Advertisement and earn maximum revenue from global audience worldwide.

In following Infographic you will come to know how many Facebook users operates from different countries and how CPC and CTR works on different parts of the world, you can manage your own Facebook Ads Cost-Per-Click (CPC) rate and get a decent Click-Through-Rate (CTR) which provides you a boost in your income.
Click to Enlarge Image!
12:58 AM | 0 comments

Download Facebook Messenger Client for Windows

Facebook Messenger has now graduated from beta testing and its now publicly available to Facebook users for downloads. Many Facebook users are always complaint about the fb chat bug through website because sometime when user loads any fb page the chat screen goes blank and other person not able to received sent messages, but now Facebook Messenger is fee from all bugs and instability issues.

Facebook users can chat with their Facebook friends from their desktop by installing Facebook Messenger Software, fb users won't have to use Facebook website for chatting purpose only now users can chat without being logged into the Social Network. Facebook Messenger requires Windows 7 to run on desktop and it will automatically syncs with Facebook, and will allow users to chat and message with their Facebook friends, and see ticker updates and notifications from messenger.



According to Facebook the fb messenger currently supports chatting and messaging only with individual friends, and not group chat or video calling. The messenger comes with everything that users would expect from any messenger and contains the classic functionality needed for conversation.

Download Facebook Messenger and start your conversation with your Facebook friends from desktop.
12:32 AM | 0 comments

Novak Djokovic - Blows Away Federer

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Friday, December 30, 2011 | 4:43 AM

6-2 6-1 in 44 minutes, bravo Nole!

If, like me, you missed the match here is it all:

Video

Enjoy
4:43 AM | 0 comments

Excerpt of "Games of Thrones" sequel published

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Thursday, December 29, 2011 | 11:46 PM

"Game of Thrones" author George R. R. Martin just released a previously unpublished sample chapter from the upcoming sixth installment, "The Winds of Winter," on his Website.

You can read it HERE
At 6,100 words in length, the excerpt is substantial.
Martin also said another "Winds of Winter" sample chapter will be included in the paperback edition of "A Dance with Dragons," which is due in July. "A Dance With Dragons" was released in July 2011, 15 years after the first volume -- "A Game of Thrones" -- came out.
In an interview published in October, Martin said he had written 100 pages of "Winds," which will be published by Bantam Books. A release date has not been set for that book or its successor, "A Dream of Spring," which Martin plans to be the final installment in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.
11:46 PM | 0 comments

Google and Facebook beat Yahoo

Google and Facebook top 2011's most visited sites in US


Yahoo email Yahoo could face problems if more young people turn away from web-based email

Google was the most popular website with US users in 2011 but Facebook was not far behind, according to market researchers.

Nielsen suggests more than 153 million visitors clicked onto Google branded pages each month, as Facebook attracted close to 138 million visitors.

Yahoo came third with about 130 million visitors each month.

But analysts warned Yahoo's tally might be at risk if young people continued to turn away from web-based email.

The study is based on data collected between January and October and included visits from home and work computers. It involved a sample from a global panel of 200,000 people.

Read the full story
11:32 PM | 0 comments

Poet Jo Shapcott wins

From the BBC

Jo Shapcott wins Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry


Jo Shapcott 
Jo Shapcott has won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, its judges saluting the "calm but sparkling Englishness" of her award-winning verse.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, chair of the judging panel, said the medal was "the true crowning of her career".

Shapcott won the Costa Book of the Year award in January for Of Mutability, a collection of poems partly inspired by her battle against breast cancer.

George V inaugurated the Gold Medal for Poetry in 1933.

Previous recipients include WH Auden, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes.

Duffy said Shapcott's work combined "accessibility with a deeply cerebral engagement with all the facets of being human".

Read the full story
11:28 PM | 0 comments

The Spelling Checker

Well, it is the silly season ...


Eye halve a spelling chequer
 
  I have a spelling checker.
  It came with my pea sea.
  It plane lee marks four my revue
  Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
 
  Eye ran this poem threw it,
  Your sure reel glad two no.
  Its vary polished in it's weigh.
  My checker tolled me sew.
 
  A checker is a bless sing,
  It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
  It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
  And aides me when I rime.
 
  Each frays come posed up on my screen
  eye trussed too bee a joule.
  The checker pours o'er every word
  To cheque sum spelling rule.
 
  Bee fore a veiling checker's Hour
  spelling mite decline,
  And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
  We wood bee maid too wine.
 
  Butt now bee cause my spelling
  Is checked with such grate flair,
  Their are no fault's with in my cite,
  Of nun eye am a ware.
 
  Now spelling does knot phase me,
  It does knot bring a tier.
  My pay purrs awl due glad den
  With wrapped word's fare as hear.
 
  To rite with care is quite a feet
  Of witch won should be proud,
  And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
  Sew flaw's are knot aloud.
 
  Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays,
  Such soft wear four pea seas,
  And why eye brake in two averse
  Buy righting too pleas.
 
  -- Sauce Unknown
1:49 PM | 0 comments

Novak Djokovic - Off To A Mixed Start

Novak beats Monfils 6-2 4-6 6-2 to set up a clash with Roger Federer tomorrow for a place in the final.

Match highlights:



Courtesy: bojansvitac

Match photos:










9:11 AM | 0 comments

Another poet backs away from TS Eliot Prize

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 | 11:46 AM

 From the BBC
John Kinsella Kinsella said the sponsors are at the 'pointy end of capitalism'

John Kinsella has become the second poet to withdraw from the TS Eliot Prize in protest over its sponsorship by investment firm, Aurum Funds, which apparently specializes in hedge funds.

The Australian, who was shortlisted for his collection Armour, said he was withdrawing on "ethical" grounds.

Prize organisers The Poetry Book Society made the deal after losing its public funding earlier this year.

Alice Oswald withdrew from the shortlist on Tuesday saying she felt "uncomfortable" with the sponsorship.

In a statement, Kinsella said he was grateful to his fellow poet "for bringing the sponsorship of the TS Eliot Prize to my attention".

"I regret that I must do this at a particularly difficult time for the Poetry Book Society (PBS), but the business of Aurum does not sit with my personal politics and ethics.

"I am grateful to everyone at the PBS for all they have done to promote my work and that of poetry in general."

My own comment:  While I greatly admire ethical stands, I wonder what T.S. Eliot -- who worked in the finance industry -- would have thought about it.

Read the full story
11:46 AM | 0 comments

The Mousetrap, 60 years old, and once adults-only


The Mousetrap: Agatha Christie’s adult masterpiece

 

About to enter its sixtieth anniversary year, "The Mousetrap" is steeped in gentility.  Yet it has a darker side, Christie's biographer, Laura Thompson, told The Telegraph.


When The Mousetrap premiered in Nottingham in October 1952, one month prior to its opening at the Ambassador’s Theatre, its author, Agatha Christie, took a modest view of its prospects. Despite the presence in the cast of Richard Attenborough, still the biggest name ever to feature in The Mousetrap, Christie believed that her play would run in the West End for about eight months.

So she would, undoubtedly, have been amazed by the fact that The Mousetrap is now sailing grandly into its 60th year, having transferred to the (admittedly tiny) St Martin’s Theatre in 1974. At the same time, she would have stood up to those who believe that the play now exists in a state of indefinite coma and should be put out of its misery.

The play that became a legend started life as a 30-minute piece for radio. In 1947 the BBC had the idea of presenting Queen Mary with a special broadcast for her 80th birthday. In staunchly middle-brow style, the Queen requested a new play by Agatha Christie.

The result was originally called Three Blind Mice (the stage title, that of the play-within-a-play in Hamlet, was the inspired idea of Christie’s son-in-law). Christie was always fascinated by nursery rhymes, by their lurking folkloric hint of the macabre: she herself, after all, wrote what might be called fairy tales for adults. So although her play was a classic thriller, its smooth surface concealed something deep and dark. Indeed that jolly joke The Mousetrap is underpinned by no less a theme than the catastrophic effects of childhood neglect.

The imponderable fate of unwanted children, a question that is taken to an extreme in The Mousetrap, always nagged away at Christie. Almost certainly this was because her own mother, the person whom she loved more than any other, was given away to an aunt at the age of nine and suffered a lifelong sense of rejection.

Nobody now thinks of The Mousetrap in terms of this central theme. Nevertheless for the first 10 years the play was billed as “for adults only”, and in truth its subject matter – interred though it is within the country-house murder genre – is extremely powerful.

This is typical of Agatha Christie. She is dismissed with tedious regularity as a mere purveyor of “animated algebra”, yet what really lies at the heart of her work is a clear-eyed understanding of the human condition, especially its baser side. She had no desire to parade that knowledge – her style is deceptively concrete – but it is there, all the time, guiding the geometry of her plots.

Even in The Mousetrap.


'The Mousetrap’ is at St Martin’s Theatre (0844 499 1515).
'Agatha Christie: An English Mystery’ by Laura Thompson (Headline, £8.99)

Read the full story
11:25 AM | 0 comments

Novak Djokovic - It All Starts Again

Novak has decided to kick off his 2012 season in 2011 and in Abu Dhabi :)

This is only an exhibition tournament so no ATP ranking points are on offer, just a big pot of cash :)

The draw has been made and Nole will first play Gael Monfils on Thursday 29 December. Play starts at 15.00 local time (12.00 Belgrade, 11.00 UK) with Ferrer v Tsonga.

The winner of Novak's match will play Federer for a place in the final. The winner of the other match will play Nadal. There is a 3rd place play-off in this tournament and this is held before the final which is due to take place on New Years Eve.

Full tournament details can be found here

Enjoy :)
4:38 AM | 0 comments

Power To The People

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 | 11:20 PM

This piece appeared in newman magazine, August 2011- our 'meet The Future' issue.











Power to the People

As we race into an age where more and more young Malaysians are standing up to take charge of our political destiny, we speak to recent Twitter controversy and political secretary to Nurul Izzah, Fahmi Fadzil, about what it was like having to do a Bart Simpson and his views on new media and politics.

By Kenn Leandre

Fahmi Fadzil may be slightly built but he is currently one of the biggest stories around town. In June this year, he gained public notoriety when one of his tweets landed him in hot soup with one of the major publishing houses in the country in which the company claimed he had defamed them in a Twitter post. The final negotiated settlement required him to recant his earlier statement and post 100 apologies on Twitter.

As a result of this, Fahmi became an overnight Internet sensation. International press from the International Herald Tribune to Al-Jazeera clamoured for interviews; he became a �celebrity� amongst the Malaysian Twitter community, also known as TwitterJaya, and his case has begun to set in motion legal precedent on the invisible boundaries of the phenomenon of social media.

So just over a month later, what does he now think of being made to literally do what Bart does on the blackboard every week in the opening credits of The Simpsons? �It has made me more responsible for my tweets but it hasn�t dampened my spirit or made me fearful of it,� he says. �Instead, it has taught me on how to strike without being seen. It�s like having to say something without explicitly saying it out loud.

�The reaction on Twitter was very interesting,� he continues. �And this incident, because it is a milestone where a settlement is done on Twitter and of this nature has given rise to a lot of material for people to study, whether it is the economy of Twitter or to gauge its reach. There�s fascinating material that can be studied from a legal aspect in terms of defamation, what legally constitutes public and private space and what exactly is a �tweet�,� he elaborates.

�It�s been a very interesting learning experience,� he concludes. �But I think the question has not been fully argued in an academic context.�













Before this �scandal� hit, Fahmi was already an emerging figurehead, but in a more combustible field: politics. He is currently the political secretary of Nurul Izzah Anwar, the MP of Pantai Dalam, who is more importantly, also the daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, which consequently puts Fahmi under the broad political umbrella of �opposition�. And he�s thinking about running for office in the future. �But only if people actually start lobbying for me because they feel that I�m a suitable and if it�s a constituency that I can relate to. I�ll cross that bridge when it comes.�

In that sense, his active involvement in politics is a reflection of a situation where more and more young Malaysians are stepping up to play a role in deciding the future of this country, voicing out dissatisfactions that have long been swept under a mengkuang carpet. And more so because Fahmi is actually a trained Chemical Engineer. So how did he get into politics?

�Around 1998, I was supposed to go to the US to continue my studies but because of the Asian currency crisis back then, most of my friends and I had to stay back and do our studies here. I was doing a Chemical Engineering program at Taylor�s that required me to complete my final years abroad (Purdue University, USA). In the summer of 2004, I happened to be in New York when the rally against the invasion of Afghanistan took place. I was there when they had this street protest of people opposing and supporting the war. I guess it was from that point that I got a taste of being vocal and fighting for citizen rights,� he explains.

When he returned home, Fahmi was initially active in the performing arts scene, participating in various stage shows through his stint with the Five Arts Centre. He then went on to open up his own graphic and web design studio called BLAM (short for Bright Lights At Midnight) with his younger brother. Today, his involvement in the media industry is as host of The Fairly Current Show on the Internet program PopTeeVee, which tackles issues deemed �too sensitive� for most mainstream media.

�I�ve interviewed quite a number of politicians on the show. I�ve always been fascinated with politics but it was more non-partisan in nature. Only after I interviewed Nurul Izzah and then offered a role in her party did I weigh the pros and cons of joining one. And I think Parti Keadilan Rakyat shares my vision and goals,� he says.

When asked his opinion on how savvy young Malaysians are nowadays when it comes to politics, and has social media played a big part in that, Fahmi replies enthusiastically �I think social media has been very helpful in bringing out the voices of a younger Malaysia. They provide means and new ways for the younger generation to be heard which I think is a very good thing unlike the past where there were restrictions to get their opinions across.�

Speaking of politicians of generations past that he looks up to, Fahmi says, �I admire someone like Tun Dr Ismail who was quite a sober politician and I think sobriety is something that is severely lacking in a lot of our manic-induced and high-octane politics post-2008.

�I like the older generation of politicians, who stood their ground as statesmen. I think we have more politicians than statesmen today,� he says cryptically, obviously drawing a fine distinction between the two. �Statesmen who addressed pressing issues of the day with conviction and moral authority.

�I hope that there are more people who will rise up to the occasion and lead Malaysia at this moment as I think we are in crisis and you cannot ignore this because to do so would be disingenuous. We need less political brinkmanship; we need more calm heads.�

This interview was done days before the day what is now referred to as �0709�, or as most of us know it, the BERSIH2.0 rally. So of course we couldn�t resist getting his opinion on the matter, specifically the attempt to clamp down what was supposed to be a peaceful rally.

�What we�ve seen so far is something akin to the Cuban Missile crisis, a knee jerk reaction where no one wants to back down while at the same time everyone is very passionate about what they believe in. This is good for Malaysian politics but how can we do this and yet at the same time maintain civility and not just blind servitude to trends and fashionable stunts? And I think the more we blur the lines, the better it is for Malaysia. So you won�t see a line of red and yellow because this means we are not able to talk. We should be able to discuss these ideas openly and it needs to happen,� he stresses.

�It (the rally) is something that is explicitly enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Article 10 1(b) states that Malaysians have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms and I stand by this. It may not be perfect but I think it (the Federal Constitution) should be our anchor, the axis in which we try figure things out. It�s only that the political imagination of certain quarters that are in positions of power that disables them from seeing it just for what it is. And by right, the bodies of security must fulfill its obligations to ensure there is no misuse of this right. It is a right (to assemble) and to deny it is unconstitutional,� he stresses once again.

These are not hollow words but ones uttered with conviction and moral authority. And through personal experience. When Fahmi returned home from New York, it was just before the general elections of that year and there was a protest. �People just wanted to hand in this memorandum to the police in Bukit Aman about the deaths of prisoners while in police custody (the late A. Kugan). So I was there filming and the police refused to deal with it, or they received orders not to deal with it, or deal with it with force and I got arrested,� he recalls.

�And I was arrested for what? Because Tian Chua, who is now a Member of Parliament for Batu though he wasn�t an MP yet at that time, was being detained in the car park when everyone had dispersed, and I happened to walking into the scene with my video camera on, and recorded him being arrested. There was a policeman in front of me who turned around, looked at me and yelled, �You! Ingat ni apa? Kelakar ya? Tangkap dia!� (You! What do you think this is? You think this is funny? Arrest him!) So there I was, filming, doing nothing and I got arrested. Perhaps I shouldn�t have been there but the way the police handled it was not right.�

Using an analogy from �wayang kulit�, the traditional Malaysian art form of �shadow play�, Fahmi elaborates: �I work a lot with wayang kulit and this Kelantanese art form suggests the idea of �angin� (�mood� or �wind�). You cannot hold back �angin�. The more you hold it back, the more it consumes you and develops into something that that warps you from the inside.

�One of the methods to deal with �angin� is called �main pateri�, some sort of healing ritual. And in that sense, I think Malaysians need a major dose of �main pateri� because we are holding back this anger and we need to vent it out. So in that sense, the more you use force to suppress people, it will find a way to leak out. Just like BERSIH; this feeling about the election process, the electoral system that is not right and needs to be fixed. Why can�t we deal with this issue in a civil fashion?� he asks before adding, �I think the way BERSIH was handled reveals the quality of the leadership in this country.�

It is apparent that Fahmi isn�t afraid to offer an opinion even on the most sensitive of subjects so I ask him if he�s ever worried about his own safety. �I don�t think I�m really in danger. I think Nurul Izzah is in more �danger�!� he jokes. �But yes, I do understand the concern. Even now there are cases where people get thrown out of buildings and get beaten up. My parents do worry sometimes, especially my mum, but I know that they believe that they have taught me well enough to be independent and to hold my own ground. Surprisingly, my father is very supportive but my fianc�e, as expected, is very worried.�

This also doesn�t mean that Fahmi is particularly comfortable with the idea that he is the face of a new politically charged generation but he certainly has an opinion about it. Does he think that social media is changing the face of politics? Is it a new political tool?

�What�s most important here is access to these tools and social media has a very low threshold of participation; all you need to do is to sign up and you�re connected. But just because you do doesn�t mean you are good at it. You have to learn how to interact; you must know who to �follow�, so it does take effort to be in the know and to get known.

�Still, this proliferation of cyber-troopers or trolls gives rise to other issues. Just because there are a lot more people who can contribute a signal or data doesn�t mean it is quality data. It could just be �noise�. �

Will it play a big role shaping the future of our local political landscape?

�Give it two election cycles and we�ll start seeing some interesting uses of social media. Already, a lot of people are looking at Twitter as private press conferences and a campaigning device for politicians and public figures. To an extent, it does democratise the discussion about politics and civic life and that can only be a good thing.�

11:20 PM | 0 comments

Keri Hulme tells her story

The lagoon, the bluff -- the story of us all

There’s a bluff at the south end of this place. It looms. It’s iconic. It just is.

A glacier pushed it out here, plus ten thousand years ago, and every year since, it has been eroded, nibbled by the sea round its toes, enduring landslides and waterfalls from the top. But it endures. It has variant bush on it, but it doesn’t seem to like gorse or truly foreign stuff on it. And there are some very precious rare wee plants it shelters (won’t even tell you where they are).

It is called Te Kohuamaru.

There have been mutilations of its name, and I willingly acknowledge that earlier people could’ve meant something different (if, indeed, they called it that) but for me, it is Te Kohu a Maru – Maru’s Mist. (Maru is that extremely interesting character, of whom we all need to learn more about.)

A lot of mornings, you look to the bluff, and there is this mist – makes sense: it is quite high –
but sometimes, when there is a full moon, there is also a mist webbing, clinging, all round the bluff.

Not anywhere else.

There is a photograph, of a couple of late Victorian gents, hats on, sticks in hand, halted by the bluff –
I don’t have it to hand immediately – a lot of my library has gone over the hill – but I even seen it on teatowels … nobody likes images on teatowels but – I am hoping – these ones were for framing –


South end of Ōkarito is the Bluff – and the north end is that wonderfully changeful edgy great water mass – ta-ra! The Lagoon! Biggest salt-water lagoon on the West Coast. Home to kōtuku! O, actually not: kōtuku breed up an arm of the Waitangi-taona, frequently feed here in the Ōkarito lagoon (and areas at the 3-mile and 7-mile) and there is always one over-wintering here – but that’s it –
between those pou, I have lived for nearly forty years …

So: now I have to leave Big O.

I neither have money or resources to continue to live in a remote area.

And the place has changed so much! So dramatically!

We have people who fly in, planes, helicopters, to their very ugly mcmansions.
About o, so few times a year, baby –

This used to be called the *settlement* of Ōkarito. It has been a sort of village. When I came here, v. early 1970s, and won a Crown Land Ballot, it was with the expectation
I would contribute to the place.

There were nine people living here then – a family of six (who left within two years) an alcoholic who whittled himself off, after a year, and me.

So, I did. I built my home, loved the place and the birds, and the other people who came and – truly, deeply enjoyed the fishing/baiting myself! And knowing one of my great-great-grandmothers came from this area, felt thoroughly at home.

Little by little a lot has been eroded: most of the places (can’t call them homes) have been holiday places, in an area where very few people take holidays. So the people who fly in doubtless have their contacts and their local enjoyments – BUT

Local people must live in a local place. Must caretake that place. Must caretake each other.
What happens to a place, when – as it is happening now – many of the people are exiting? And the original commitment to conservation/preservation of the truly original inhabitants (Ōkarito brown kiwi? Our rather especial mudfish? Our fernbirds? Our tui with their own lingo?) and the truly loving people of this place – go – away?

Because I can no longer afford to live in Big O – because in the Aotearoa I live in now – living in a truly especial place is made impossible because of local body rate demands (which have absolutely NO effective returns to me in the most part) and because the general tenor of this place has changed to being a nasty mcmansion village – I’ll exit very soon.

And I’ll look to the bluff – see the two people I love in their beautifully, sensitively refurbished and newly rebuilt home – and think, Yeah, the – place still attracts the people –

AND – THIS COMING YEAR

I am sure a person will want to buy – whatever my home is, whatever my place is –

Then again: the bluff was actually the site of at least two rūnaka.

When Kāi Tahu moved south, several high ranking people came to Ōkarito to learn stuff.

They learned it on the bluff.

One of my long-ago neighbours built up there.

While he was digging foundations, he dug a small nasty mere, and hei.

When I heard he was keeping both, I suggested he didn’t.

When I heard that he’d chainsawed into his breastbone, accidentally, I strongly suggested he give them to the Hokitika museum.

They reside there now. He died years ago.

I’d really urge all of us – who come to the Coast – to visit the Hokitika Museum. Look at those wee relics from the bluff.

And then – same place – go visit the Hokitika Whitebait Exhibition – beautifully curated, and the First Time In The World There Has been A Whitebait Exhibition. You’ll see me there – and maybe many of your olds

catch you next time, this side or that side of the hill –


Reproduced from Te Karaka with the kind permission of Keri Hulme
9:44 PM | 0 comments

Robert Scott's farewell letter to be auctioned


They made a pledge to "die like gentlemen"




Farewell Letter by Explorer Robert Falcon Scott to be Auctioned at Bonhams

By Monami Thakur

A goodbye letter, which Royal Navy officer and explorer Robert Falcon Scott wrote when he realized that he would not be able to survive his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, will be sold at Bonhams.

The letter was found in November 1912 on his body and was written to Sir Edgar Speyer, American-born financier and philanthropist.

In the letter, Scott expressed concerns for his family and the family of his companions. He wrote that they "must go...but we have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen - I regret only for the women we leave behind.

If this diary is found, it will show how we stuck by our dying companions and fought this thing out to the end."

He further wrote that they very nearly "came through and it's a pity to have missed it but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark - no-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we lacked support."


Read the full story
12:12 PM | 0 comments

Turner may have applied overheard science to his paintings

From the BBC

Artist Turner 'eavesdropped for ideas'


The Festival of the Opening of the Vintage at Macon exhibited 1830, oil on canvas. © Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust Biographer James Hamilton says Turner used Sir William Herschel's discoveries about the sun in Festival of the Opening of the Vintage at Macon

Artist JMW Turner's work may have been influenced by scientific theories that he overheard, new research suggests.

While the painter was in the Royal Academy, he was in the adjacent rooms to where scientists of the Royal Society held regular meetings.

Turner biographer James Hamilton says the thin walls would have allowed the artist to overhear their discoveries.

He believes one of Turner's works makes use of Sir William Herschel's theories about the sun.

In an essay written in new book Turner and the Elements, Mr Hamilton looks at the artist's treatment of the natural world.

He writes that as Turner was in close proximity to the scientists at London's Somerset House, now occupied by the Courtauld Galleries, "cross fertilisation" would naturally have occurred.

Mr Hamilton also notes that two years after Sir William Hershel lectured the scientists on the "ridges, nodules and corrugations" he had observed in the surface of the sun in 1801, Turner was also creating the effect within a painting.

In the 1803 painting The Festival of the Opening of the Vintage at Macon, the artist appears to have painted the sun in the way Sir William had described it.

The biographer adds that Turner was fascinated by science and was also friends with mathematician Mary Somerville and scientist Michael Faraday, who helped him test the durability of his pigments.

The new book comes ahead of the upcoming Turner and the Elements exhibition which will open on 28 January 2012 at Turner Contemporary in Margate, Kent.
11:34 AM | 0 comments

Man sued for keeping company twitter followers

Good lord, I had no idea that tweeting could be so valuable

From the BBC

A man is being sued for keeping Twitter followers that he attracted while working for a US mobile news website.

Noah Kravitz tweeted for Phonedog as @Phonedog_Noah, but later changed his username when he left the company - taking 17,000 followers with him.

The company is now seeking damages of $2.50 (£1.60) per user, per month - a total of $370,000.
Mr Kravitz said his former employer had given him permission to continue using the account after he left.

He told the New York Times that Phonedog had allowed him to make the account personal as long as he agreed to "tweet on their behalf from time to time".

The 17,000 followers, which have since risen to 22,000, had been built up by Mr Kravitz during his four years at the company where he worked as a blogger.

However, eight months later the company filed a lawsuit claiming that the account's followers were a customer list, and that it had invested "substantial" resources into building it.
11:26 AM | 0 comments

The Jedi Speaks - The great Batman vs Superman debate 2011

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Monday, December 26, 2011 | 7:35 PM

NOT ANOTHER BATMAN POST!

okok. Sorry about that. Just purely coincidental.

Supes? Better than Bats? Seriously? You gotta be kiddin me.

Saw a friend standing up for the big blue boy scout today through her blog (read it here) and I just had to say something about it.

Why do I think Batman is way better than Superman?

1. Despite being a billionaire in Bruce Wayne, Batman is a working class hero. He doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. He gets the job done. He beats the crap out of people who he thinks deserve getting the crap beaten out of them - with no hesitation in crossing the thin line that separates dishing out the right amount of pain, from going that extra mile in dishing another dose of ass whupping to those who deserve being whupped.

2. Sacrifice. Bruce Wayne could have lived the good life being a billionaire. But no. He took upon him to correct things that is often overlooked by the law. Money and power can only solve so much hence the batsuit. His motivations are clear - so that no other citizen have to go through what he did.

3. Batman is human. More human than the son of Krypton will ever be. Strip Superman off his powers and give him all of Wayne's billions and will you get a hero? heck no. Probably a media mogul. Just that. Wait. Clark Kent isnt that clever to begin with!

4. Batman is a thinking man's hero. Sure he uses fear to his advantage but that's what a smart man will do - use your surroundings to your advantage. Supes? Meh. Screw tactics. I'm invincible. I'm unstoppable. SLAP BANG! Barge in just like that.

5. I prefer heroes whose decisions are based on his own set of morals and creed. Batman has that. The ability to separate right from wrong regardless who is the perp. Superman, despite all his powers, is a blind servitude to the uniform, and organized power. Be it the cops, the government or anything that the public considers 'right'. The inability of Superman to think beyond what lies in front of him makes him a good guy just because he saves the furniture, rather than stopping the house from burning down completely.

So there you have it. Despite his many flaws in terms of super powers compared to Superman (no subsonic speed, no bulletproof body, laser sight, super strength), Batman will always be a much better super hero than that big blue boy scout. Simple reason - he uses his brains (with a bit of help from cool bone crunching moves too)





















"Yes". You always say "Yes" to anyone wearing a badge ...or a flag. No good.

7:35 PM | 0 comments

Jedi Speaks - Infographic - Batsuits 101

Every significant batsuit ever!


Every Batman bat-suit



This brilliant piece was created by Benjamin Andrew Moore @benandrewmoore

6:58 PM | 0 comments

The Jedi Reviews #extra - Batman : Arkham City

So i completed Batman: Arkham City on Christmas day and as always, i tend to let the credits roll, hoping for some easter egg to appear somehow and it did!

I'm not gonna spoil it for you, in terms of the ending for the main story, but regardless, listening to this bit is still scary nonetheless.

Here's the freaky bit - throughout the game, you'll get phone calls from The Joker, mostly of him taunting you (Batman) with gibberish talk which dont really do much in helping you solve a mission.

Sometimes, it goes straight to voicemail and like in real life, i hardly check my voicemail.

Anyway, this one got away. I don't know if you are actually able to retrieve it in game, or Rocksteady purposely put it at the end of the game during credits roll to amp up the emotion - which i think worked VERY WELL.

Have a listen. Not that hard to guess what song hehehee.

6:07 PM | 0 comments

Booker Prize-winner flees paradise turned "McMansion"

From the Greymouth Star

Author Keri Hulme exits Okarito


By Laura Mills
Booker Prize-winning author Keri Hulme is leaving her remote Okarito home of almost 40 years, saying it has become a “nasty mcmansion village”.

Her novel The Bone People won the international Booker award in 1985.

Okarito, a former goldmining village on the coast near Franz Josef Glacier, has been her home since the early 1970s, when she won a Crown land ballot and built her own home in a unique octagonal design.

Writing in the Ngai Tahu magazine Te Karaka, the reclusive author said only a handful of people lived at Okarito when she arrived — a family of six, who left within two years, and “an alcoholic”.

She said she was leaving because she could no longer afford to live there, while also firing broadsides at the changing nature of the place.

“We have people who fly in, planes, helicopters, to their very ugly mcmansions,” she wrote.

“Little by little a lot has been eroded: most of the places (can’t call them homes) have been holiday places, in an area where very few people take holidays.”

Local body rates demands made living there impossible, she said.

She still “loved the place and the birds” but the truly loving people of the place had gone away.

With thanks to Simon Nathan for pointing out this story. 
11:16 AM | 0 comments

Suggest Captions for Google Search and Win Contest

Written By Lingkar Dunia on Saturday, December 24, 2011 | 8:03 AM

Enter into Google's Search Caption Challenge and be a Winner, Google has introduced a new contest which provides an opportunity to individual to become winner. The contest is about different Google caption challenge, users have to suggest and fill the caption in most creative way. All you have to do is to see the particular cartoon picture and give suggestion according to the situation. The goal of the contest is to bring the most relevant and useful results as quickly as possible from Google Search.


If you're creative enough than you can win it. Each cartoon has a title and blank spots for users to submit name and a caption. The contest has a Reddit-style voting system; people can give a thumbs-up vote or thumbs-down vote for each submission. To participate in contest, Go to Inside Search and submit your idea. Your caption will appear on the site, and you can share it with friends via a unique link. However there is no prize for winners, all you can do is to get popular and win against all other competitors to win titles.

8:03 AM | 0 comments

Visitors Behavior On Serving Ads Of Websites and Blogs

Do you know how your visitors feels and reacts on several serving advertisements on websites and web blogs? Placement of Ads is very important factor when you are publishing any type of advertisements in your website because it�s a perfect placement which decides whether your visitors or readers are going to click on your serving ads or not and it�s directly impact on your revenue. Most of the visitors and readers avoid bad ads placement and they don't even consider that particular content which contains several non-relevant ads.


Every webmaster has to look forward to place their ads according to their web theme and design. If your website or webpage content is good enough to gain more audience from Search Engines than perfect ad placement can give you good earnings from your ads. According to the latest survey report almost 30% to 40% visitors and readers likes to click on ads which serves valuable and trusted brands with most relevant content in it and almost 50% of visitors hates and avoid to click on pop-up ads. Following Infographic will helps you to understand how people behave and reacts when they see any serving�s ads on websites and web blogs, it helps you to understand how to deliver your ads and where to place your ads to avoid maximum bounce rate and to keep remains the interest of your readers and visitors.

7:02 AM | 0 comments

Top Most Downloaded Mobile Apps and Games of 2011 - Infographic

The year 2011 is the year mainly known for "Mobile Technology Revolution" in tech industry because many popular and biggest Mobile Apps and Games have introduced in this year from the most popular internet and tech companies like Apple, Google, Nokia, Microsoft etc. After the revolution of Tablets and Smartphones devices big computers and laptops is now comes to under pocket of peoples and with the fastest growth of internet world has become short and small to connect with people around the world.


Mobile Apps and Games like Angry Birds from Rovio Mobile Ltd, Facebook App from Facebook Inc. or is it Google Maps from Google Inc. etc. now becomes the favorite on the go Apps and Games for Smartphone owners. Today we have summarized The Most Popular and Top Downloaded Mobile Apps and Games of 2011 which gets more attention from Mobile and Smartphone owners.

2:02 AM | 0 comments

Google Algorithm Updates & Changes In 2011 - Infographic

Google has always known for its experiments and efforts to make Search Engines free from Spammers, Scammers, Content Violations and to make Internet more secure by making changes and updates into their Algorithm. The year 2011 was the biggest year for Google Algorithm Updates because in this year Google made several changes into their Algorithm which affects almost 40% of its Search Ranking and Queries in Search Engines. Some of the Major Algorithm Changes And Updates of 2011 is Google Panda, Google+ Plus 1, Google UI Update etc.


Many webmasters and website owners are claiming that Google Algorithm Updates of 2011 was really effective and they had made changes into their websites and weblogs according to the new Google updates, which really effects their global audience and web traffic from Google Search Engines. The following Google Algorithm Infographic timeline contains the Major Google Algorithm Updates and Changes of 2011, which helps you to understand how frequently Google make changes into their Search Engines Algorithm.

Google Algorithm Updates and Changes In 2011

Click to Enlarge Image!
1:39 AM | 0 comments

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