'A quick meme' of quotes

Jason Kottke engages in what he delightfully calls 'a quick meme' (ten a penny these days, do one while you step into the kitchen for a snack) in which you look through random quotations until you find five that you like or relate to. Mine:

• The truth is that all of us attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to their greatest extent. -Dr Smiley Blanton
• It is not giving children more that spoils them; it is giving them more to avoid confrontation. -John Gray in Children Are From Heaven
• Never be haughty to the humble; never be humble to the haughty. -Jefferson Davis
• It is not enough to aim; you must hit. -Italian Proverb
• Maps encourage boldness. They're like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible. -Mark Jenkins in To Timbuktu
  

Tags: Quotes Memes Personal Kottke

What will Apple do next?

After Apple's hardly world-shaking and over-hyped presentation of its latest products - the Intel-inside Mac Mini and the iPod Hi-Fi (which is essentially an Apple branded set of speakers for the iPod) - I'd like to make my prediction as to what's coming next. Apple hasn't been annoucing all too many new products in the last few months. (I'm not counting the Intel-based computers, because the computers themselves aren't new.)

Apple is a bit short on form factors for the PC, really. They have desktops and laptops, as well as wild speculation about an Apple phone. No PDA (just wait) and no tablet PCs.

My prediction, therefore, is that Apple will release a tablet PC sometime this year. They will then busily imply that they invented the concept.

Tags: Apple Technology Computers Predictions

Cross Crescent Crystal

The Red Cross is set to accept a third symbol for humanitarian operations - the red crystal, which'll be a red diamond on a white background. This is in addition to the red cross and the red crescent.

When you see the two current symbols together, it really reminds you of the symbols for Christianity and Islam, modified slightly. And, indeed, the Red Crystal is being introduced primarily so that Israel will stop using its national symbol, the Star of David, as a humanitarian sign.

Cross, Crescent, Crystal. I like the idea that there'll be a symbolically neutral sign.

Tags: RedCross Israel International

Save Van Nguyen

In two weeks' time (December 2), Singapore plans to hang the Australian citizen Van Nguyen. Nguyen was caught smuggling a little less than 400g of heroin into the country three years ago.

This was Nguyen's first offence. He confessed as soon as he could and assisted the police with their enquiries. He was hardly a big fish - he was trying to get money to help his identical twin brother, who was heavily in debt due to a drug addiction.

Any instance of the death penalty in any country is inhumane, fundamentally against the idea of human rights (right to life, for instance) and hopelessly anachronistic. Particularly with all the mitigating circumstances above, Singapore should not be executing Nguyen (or in fact anyone else, but that's another issue). He's a young man who made a mistake. What he did was wrong, but executing him would also be wrong.

He deserves a second chance. He doesn't deserve to die.

Amnesty International is running a campaign to get Singapore to commute Nguyen's death sentence. Here's their details on how to email the Singaporean Pm or how to SMS your support for Nguyen.

Tags: Singapore Crime Drugs Heroin Execution Amnesty Nguyen

Breaking news: Web 2.0 helpful

There are those who are cynical about the value of tags (TagTagger, for instance - link from Kottke). There are those who think they're a pointless buzzword. I, for one, am hooked.

Why? Since I started tagging my posts, my readership has shot up. Forty per cent of my top referral pages are tag-related pages. That's the power of Web 2.0. Don't fight it. Embrace the power.

Tags: Tags Internet Blog Web2.0 Technology

Cup Fever: The Reckoning

Astute readers will remember that on Monday I issued my tips for the Melbourne Cup:

• Mr. Celebrity will win; and
  
• Makybe Diva will not.
  

Makybe Diva won. As you might expect. And Mr. Celebrity, as well as not winning, came 23rd in a field of 24.

Your best bet at next year's Cup is to do the exact opposite of what I tell you to do.

Tags: Sport Cup Melbourne Horses

Cup Fever

Well, every man and his dog have tips for the Melbourne Cup, so I thought I might put mine down for the record.

23: Mr Celebrity. Trainer: Gai Waterhouse. Current odds: $18.80 Win, $5.30 Place.

Why did I pick him? A few reasons.

1. He's not the frontrunner, so I feel independent.
   
2. He's got fairly good odds, so I have a chance of winning.
   
3. I like the name.
   
4. I like the colours of the jockey's gear.
   
5. The trainer is Gai Waterhouse. Who could resist?
   

Makybe Diva? I honestly can't see her winning three in a row. Arguably, I'm one of those people who has no interest in horse racing whatsoever, but who suddenly becomes an expert the day before the Melbourne Cup. And last year I said Makybe Diva wouldn't get two in a row. Shows how much I know.

Tags: Sport Cup Melbourne Horses

31/10/05 Links

• The Plateau is the official website of Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities - making him essentially in charge of Egyptian archaeological administration. Fascinating if, like me, you're an ancient history buff.
  
• The Forbidden Library records banned and challenged books throughout history and why they were objected to. An example - James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl, was challenged at two US schools in the early 90s because it uses the word 'ass' (as in "You silly ass!" or similar, if I recall correctly) and refers to, and hence encourages the use of, tobacco, snuff and whisky. Well, that's clearly inappropriate. Burn it, I say.
  
• Google Hacks use the power of Google to create interesting projects. Examples are the program to find the colour of a word or the utility to translate a phrase through three languages and see what the result is.
  

Tags: Links Egypt Hawass History Literature Books Google Computers Internet Technology