just like dady

a boy wants to grow up to be like dad - I have quite some more 'growing' to do :)

Love (via) Skype

Last time I was back in Melbourne, we got the parents' computer Skype enabled:
Yogi's there too:

Technology, at times, truly does have the ability to erase the distances. During a chat, I forget that actually we are not in the same room, and that there is 7000km between us.

Pozdrav...!

UDATED 3rd Oct:

By the way, and Roza is there for few seconds at the time as well. The connection with Teheran is just terrible... Over there, ADSL is allowed only for corporate accounts, so she is on the dial-up, and connection drops way too frequently for any meaningful chat to take place.

congratulations DrRay

Best of luck with chasing that couriosity cat boldly forward where no man has been before...! 

Random nuggets

The Large Hadron Collider is a really big experiment:

Hope is that it will help answer the ultimate questions on the life, universe and everything:

- LHC explained with the passion by "Rock-star physicist" Brian Cox of at TED.

- The Universe is biiiiiiiiig. To get a better sense of the size, take a very cool journey to its edge.

- Detailed, five parts story about the LHC on Horizon, BBC.

- Stephen Hawking: Universe, six parts documentary.

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This post summarises 10 most influential studies in social psychology. Very nice read, on stuff such as why do we lie to ourselves, why do we conform to each other, why do we develop group mentality...

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Preetam, a colleague at work, who is highly involved with many things Web 2.0 had a nice story to share from the recent barCamp in Bangkok: the most popular presentation given was by the Japanese girl on 'How to date a Japanese girl'.

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Some very creative advertisement posters; with animals; on poverty.

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"Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like."

I don't know to which context this line by Will Rogers refers to, but to me it sure sounds like a definition for Consumerism.

Melbourne - a victim of its own success

After frequently winning, or being one of the top contestants for the 'World's Most Livable City Award', the local newspaper, The Age, reported yesterday that Melbourne's population will double, and reach 8 million, by the middle of the century. I understand what's all the fuss about, as before I noticed it, I too have fallen in love with the city.

Quick search with key words 'Melbourne population' on the newspaper's site reviles astonishing statistics: such as 1500 new people per week, 75000 per year; the rate used to be at 55000 new people on average per year between 2001 and 2006; current growth rate surpasses any estimates made for the city in the year 2030. The statistics are combined with the scary issues of inadequate water supplies, housing and transport capacities...

The trend will have to turn it's course. I am guessing that the current rate in population increase will ease naturally, as more people arrive to the city, the city will become less livable... - the negative outcome of the network effect. One can only hope, for the sake of the Melbournians, that the population boom will slow down to an acceptable rate which the progress of the infrastructure development can sustain...!


UPDATED, 25th Oct 09

David (comments) is right; the trends of this type do not change, the latest news estimates Melbourne population at 7 million within 40 years.

Balkanization

I came across the term just now for the 1st time while doing the readings for my subject on Globalization. The term, as defined on Wikipedia, refers to the process of fragmentation of a state/region into smaller states/regions. The interesting part on the Wikipedia entry are the two animations depicting the constantly changing state borders in the region. One during the Balkan Civil War, showing the chronological brake up of Yugoslavia, and the other presenting the border fluidity since the late 18th century.

....(until when) will the history keep repeating itself...?