- What My 11 Year Old’s Stanford Course Taught Me About Online Education
- Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Feel-Good Waste of Money If nothing else I need to pay less when I get some new glasses.
- A Tale of Two Terminals comparison between the launches of Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital Airport and Heathrow Terminal 5 from the perspective of someone used to handling complex software implementations
- The frequent fliers who flew too much This reminds me a lot of Internet (especially ISP) based unlimited accounts that fail to take account of people’s usage patterns when additional usage is free
- When half a million Americans died and nobody noticed Has the death toll from the drug Vioxx been greatly underestimated?
Category: Misc
Misc Stuff
Interesting links for May 5th 2012
- A Relevant Tale: How Google Killed Inktomi – Overview on how early search engine Inktomi was knocked out by Google. The Hacker News discussion is quite good and includes a link to a video talk by Inktomi’s co-founder.
- Reddit interview – IAmA Part Time Hooker in New Zealand – Raw Interview or Summary of Q/A . Prostitution is legal in New Zealand so some people in other countries find it interesting how it works. NSFW obviously.
- Are Shakespeare’s Plays Encoded within Pi? – YouTube . The full text is in the text section of the page.
- Gather – Auckland BarCamp has decided to rebrand itself as “Gather”. Not sure of the point especially since they don’t even own gather.co.nz (or gathernz.com or something). Anyway it’s a pretty good unconference that happens each year. This year it is one June 30th
New Year’s Resolutions – 3 month progress report
At the start of this year I made some New Years Resolutions. I thought I’d review how I was going after 3 months.
- Weight – Unchanged. Doing a bit of work here but obviously not enough, at least it is not going up.
- Driver License – Not started yet
- Chess – Done a lot of work here, plenty of practice and I’ve scored some good results. Feel I’ve made some improvement
- Programming – Not started yet
Overall it doesn’t look so good but I’m actually pretty happy. The chess is going well and I’m intending to start the programming course later this month.
2012 New Year’s resolutions
I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions let alone publish them but I thought I’d go for it this year. If nothing else it’ll make me feel a bit guilty not keeping to them.
1. Get weight down to 80kg – Over the last couple of years my weight has drifted up from around 85kg to 95kg. My goal for this year is to get it down to 80kg.
2. Get my learners driver license – I don’t have a drivers license at all right now. Goal for this year is to at least pass the written test and get the first stage of a full license. Hopefully I’ll actual do a bit more than this but I think the learners is a good minimum.
3. Get chess rating to 2000 (either NZCF or FIDE) – My rating is currently hovering around the 1800 level for both my New Zealand (NZCF) and International (FIDE) rating. My goal is to get this 200 points higher which will put me into New Zealand “A” grade.
4. Complete “Learning Python the Hard way” – My programming skills are a bit weaker than I would like. The is a fairly well known book/course Learn Python the Hard way by Zed Shaw that I’d like to complete to get my skills up a bit.
I’ve tried to make the goals realistic and list things I can actually finish. The weight goal and the chess goal are probably the hardest. The weight one will require me to stick to a diet pretty much all year while the chess one will require at least a couple of hours a day of study and practise.
I’m not sure how long the programming course will take, I’m guessing 20-50 hours if I do most of the extra-credit exercises. The drivers license things should be less perhaps 20 hours of road-code study plus the test itself.
Some of the things above cost money but I feel that they are all worthwhile enough to spend a bit on. This is especially the case where I’m spending a lot of hours on something. For example there is a video version of the python course available for $US 29. It would be silly of me to invest 20-50 hours in the course but “save” $29 by not paying for the full version.
The license and programming goals are a little unambitious but with them I’m hoping to (a) have something I will actually complete and (b) be things that have obviously follow-ups.
Options to change MMP
At the same time as New Zealand’s general election on November 26th 2011 it also held a referendum of the voting system. While only early results are back it looks like the vote was to keep Mixed Member Proportional ( MMP ) system and so there will be a review in 2012 of MMP. I thought I’d list many of the possible options for changing MMP in a post for people. I’ll try to skip options that completely change the system however.
Local Electorates
- Completely get rid of and go to a list-only system
- Use a preferential voting system to elect members
- Have multiple member electorates and elect MPs via STV
- Abolish the Maori seats
- Change the formula for decided the number of electorates ( currently 16 in the South Island and NI and Maori seats in proportion )
- Loosen or tighten the requirements for electorates to have the same population
- Create other electorates for other ethnic groups, overseas NZers, electorates that anyone can “move” to.
- electorate winners determined by Party vote ( eg if a party is entitled to 20 MPs then it’s 20 highest polling candidates are elected)
- Otherwise disallow the election of electorate MPs that would cause an overhang.
The Lists
- Strighter requirements for lists to be democraticly decided
- People can be on multiple lists
- List-only candidates not allowed
- Changes in how list-members who leave parliament are replaced.
- Regional lists and/or one covering the Maori Seats
- Make any MP that forgoes their position on the list to allow a person below them into parliament ineligible to stand in the next election
The list vote
- Threshold to be changed from current 5% ( usually reduced )
- Removal of exception from threshold for parties that win an electorate
- Winning a electorate reduces the threshold but doesn’t eliminate it ( eg : No Seats = 5% , 1 Seat = 4% , 2 seats = 3% 3 seats = 2% )
- Remove/Reduce threshold for parties representing Maori interests
- Change from Sainte-Laguë method for deciding seat allocation to another method
- Ability of people to reorder or otherwise influence the order in which their party lists are ordered when they vote
- Ability to have a second choice if ones “first choice” party does not make the threshold
- Removal from lists of candidates that stood in local electorates but failed to win or complete ban on people being allowed to be on both list and stand in electorate.
- Only remove a losing electorate candidate from a list if they were previously the MP ( eg “thrown out by their constituents” )
- Allow people to vote across lists . Perhaps via a STV type system of (optionally) numbering candidates from multiple parties.
- Regional lists and/or one covering the Maori Seats
- Threshold is 1 electorate MP , no percentage threshold
- Electorate MPs elected for a party must exceed list MPs
- Increase/decrease in the number of list MPs
- Removal of separate list vote, just count electorate vote towards party-list quota.
July Update
I just updated this blog to wordpress 3.2 which came out this week. Only a small glitch caused by me running an old theme which wasn’t 100% compatible. WordPress itself seems to be better. I had a quick look at the Twenty Eleven theme which comes packaged with wordpress and it looks nice even via my mobile browser. I’m tempted to update from the Simplicity theme which I currently use.
I updated my hosted Linux VPS to Ubuntu 10.04 last week and took the opportunity to change the web software around when I did it. I’ve now replaced lighttpd+fastcgi with a standard apache2+mod_php setup but I’ve put Varnish 3.0 web accelerator in from of everything. Complete overkill for a bunch of small sites that I host but it gives me peace-of-mind for slashdotting type situations. Main reason for the move is that lighttpd is a little obscure these days while I use apache and varnish at work.
Last week I attended the 3 day NetHui conference in Auckland. The conference was aimed around Internet Policy for New Zealand. An interesting 3 days during which I attended (and missed) plenty of great discussion, talking to interesting people and saw a few great talks. The event was cheap to allow more people to attend and features a wide range of people including Lawyers, educationalists, techies, businessmen, civil servants and a few “interested in a private capacity” people. Great event. Here is a link to the media/blog coverage.
Later this month I’ll be in Christchurch for the South Island Chess Champs ( link to site not page since sites uses frames!!). Christchurch has been hit by 3 big earthquakes in the last year (and hundreds of small ones) and thousands of buildings have been damaged (Many have or will be demolished) so it will be interesting seeing some of this for myself (although I’ll be playing chess during most of the day). The tournament is one the other side of down from the most damaged areas however.
Also coming up this month I’ll be at Barcamp Auckland 5 , probably not speaking though.
The Call of Papers and Call for Miniconfs have also just come out for Linux.conf.au 2012 in Ballarat. Once again we’ll hopefully be able to run a Sysadmin Miniconf and I’m also thinking of putting in a talk proposal.
Wikileaks cables Illegal in NZ?
Today the Sunday Staff Times obtained early copies of 8 wikileaks cables from the US Embassy in New Zealand and has put a copy of them online on it’s website.
Usual frank stuff but I notice that the 08WELLINGTON356 explicitly names the “Deputy Director of New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS)” which is illegal as explained by the Ministry of Justice site:
Apart from the name of the Director of Security, it is an offence to publish certain information regarding the identity of members of the NZSIS or that a person is connected in any way with a member of the NZSIS
It will be interesting to see if the SST gets prosecuted.
UPDATE : Philip Lyth points towards the 1969 legislation which specifies a $1000 fine for publishing the name. Possible this has increased in later amendments.
Review: Sweetheart Cafe Gallery
This place is very close to work and I’ve been meaning to give it a try for some time. It’s at 15 Swanson St in the Auckland CBD and is tucked in under the Stamford Hotel. It is pretty small with an outer room with the counter and a few seats and a small main room.
The interesting things is the “Gallery” bit. The café is a offshoot of an artists studio so there are several paintings by the artists on the walls (all for sale) and there is a studio out the back of the main room.
Food is standard coffee range with no surcharge for Soy milk and a selection is biscuits , slices and cakes. Pricing is a little cheaper than average (especially with no surcharge) at around $3.50 for a coffee (which is quite big) and $3 for most cakes and slices.
Service was prompt and fast (although it was pretty quiet when I was there) and felt a little more upmarket than usual. My coffee/cake was bought out on a nice hand-held tray to my table with a spork and knife.
I can’t remember the music so it was either non-existent or quiet (either of which is good) but there reading selection was pretty minimal with just half a dozen give-away magazines (like the Red Bulletin).
Apart from the reading selection I was pretty impressed and I’ll probably try it out as my regular for a while.
Update: I’ve just found their website which I missed previous. Has a better map and pictures than I do here as well as menu.
XKCD vs NZ University Websites
xkcd.com recently did the following cartoon on University Website:
So I thought I’d see how the Websites for New Zealand Universities stacked up:
| University | Things they tend to have | Score | Things people are looking for | Score |
| Auckland University of Technology | Yes: Full Name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Compus events, Statement of School’s Philosophy,
No: Press releases, Letter from the president, Virtual tour |
5/8 | Yes: Full Name of School, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Usable campus map, Campus Address, Application forms, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information
No: Academic Calendar |
8/9 |
| Lincoln University | Yes: Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Full name of school
No: Campus photo slide-show, Letter from the president, Virtual tour |
5/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: Campus police phone number |
8/9 |
| Massey University | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Letter from the president
No: Campus photo slide-show, Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Campus police phone number, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: List of Facility phone number and Emails |
8/9 |
| University of Auckland | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Letter from the president
No: Campus photo slide-show, Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, Academic Calendar, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, usable campus map
No: List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms |
6/9 |
| University of Canterbury | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy
No: Campus photo slide-show, Letter from the president, Virtual tour |
5/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Campus police phone number, Parking information, Usable campus map, Dept/Course lists, Academic Calendar
No: Application forms |
8/9 |
| University of Otago | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Letter from the president, Statement of School’s Philosophy
No: Campus photo slide-show. Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: Academic Calendar |
8/9 |
| University of Waikato | Yes: Full name of school, Campus photo slide-show, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Letter from the president
No: Alumni in the news, Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Academic Calendar, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map No: |
9/9 |
| Victoria University of Wellington | Yes: Full name of school, Campus photo slide-show, Alumni in the news, Press Releases, Promotions for Campus events, Letter from the president, Statement of School’s Philosophy
No: Virtual tour |
7/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: Campus police phone number |
8/9 |
In all cases I opened up the site and searched around for up to 30 seconds for each item. I used the links off the front page and the search tools on the site. When possible I tended to be fairly generous with awarding points. So if the University calendar was browsable rather than downloadable it was okay or you could enrol online rather but not download the documents you also got the point.
Out of the sites I found Auckland’s the worst in that it was large and confusing (See below) while missing the basics. The other universities were all a lot better to the extent I can’t really pick between them.
Notes:
- I found the University of Auckland’s website very hard to actually use. Pretending I wanted to enrol in 1st year Computer Science I found it very hard to find out what courses were offered, which ones I should take and how I should apply. The process seemed to involved jumping back and forth between half a dozen computer different sections of the website. Very bad for a core function of the website.
- Many of the sites had separate websites for depts and other organisations within the University. I found that it was often the case where a search for “Maps” or “parking” would sometimes show the the dept’s version of that page rather than the campus-wide one.
- I think just about all the sites would benefit from a usability test. Create a list of 10 common things people want to do at the website and pull some people off the street to try and do them. The things in the “What people are looking for” could be a good start.
- Search quality seems to vary a lot between the sites. Those using Google search usually are worst. Having the option to highlight certain pages to ensure they appear at the top of search results is a useful feature.
- In most cases I could easily find the campus security number by searching for “Security”. Good enough in most case but perhaps some improvement needed since people might be in a panic when dialling the number.
- It’s good to see that in most cases the sites were trying to be user-centric. However in many cases the “follow this path to enrol” didn’t interact well with the rest of the sites (eg when it came time to look up course information). Part of this is possibly the high complexity of enrolment and the regulations but the experience could be better.
- Best page I came across on my tour was the Otago University Parking Page , with notes like “All phone calls to the Parking desk are recorded”you can tell that is a fun place to work.
NZ National Party claims copyright of Diplomat’s photos?
Last night I posted about how copyright of photographs of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key are owned by the New Zealand National party. In the post I assumed that the photos that were being claimed by National were taken by political staffers in the Prime Minister’s office.
However looking though the a New Zealand Herald’s photogallery of a John Key’s recent visit to Washington I noticed that the photos 5 and 6 in this gallery match these two photos on the “National Party” flickr page.
However the photo’s in the Herald are credited to “Tania Garry” who appears ( from a bit of googling) to be a career New Zealand diplomat currently posted to Washington.
So what is happening here? A New Zealand diplomat takes a photograph which is released to some news media (with full rights to publish it commercially I assume) but somehow the National Party is allowed to put it on their website/flickr under their own conditions?
So who owns the copyright for this photo? Who released a copy under what conditions and to who?
From my point of view it appears that a NZ diplomat takes a photo and then it’s made available to “friendly” news media for publication (but not the New Zealand public) before copyright is claimed by the National Party?
Like I said in my previous post, photos and other material like this should not be claimed by Political parties but should be released under a liberal license for use by anyone (which includes commercial use like newspapers).