Well ok ill share an image of my final major project before its finished. It’s still in need of a LOT of touching up, and finishing of.

Filed under: Art, uni by kiamo
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Man… I’ve totally failed at posting up pics of my final major project… Although… I kinda don’t wanna show it till its finished. I’ll show you a little though. A bucket and barrel haha.

Filed under: Art, uni by kiamo
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I cant quite believe I haven’t mentioned Ubiquity in a blog post yet.  It’s a really exciting innovation in the way we could(should) be using the web.

Its all about connecting the web with language.  Check out this short presentation by Aza Raskin.

This is really cool, and completely turns the philosophy on how we get to Internet services on its head.  I installed the Ubiquity prototype a couple of months ago and now I use it all the time.

You see a phenomenal amount of bad design on the Internet.  A good user interface shouldn’t interrupt you or ruin your train of thought, distract you with flashy effects or with clumsy design.  It should sit idly by, unnoticed, ready to show itself when your need it.  Ultimately a good user interface, is pretty much invisible.  In addition, a good UI should allow you to call apon services and functions in the most natural way, and with the least steps required to get there.

Ubiquity fulfills all this criteria.  It brings services to you, so you don’t have to go out of your way to get them, and it does this using natural language.  It is also completely hidden unless you invoke it with a very natural key combination (CTRL + Space).

Using Ubiquity I can spend more time focused on what I’m doing rather than on how I’m doing it.

Filed under: geek by kiamo
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Daphni calls me an old man for listening to Jazz, Blues and generally more “mature” music (or so it is perceived as).  The thing is though, that most pop/rap/hiphop/dance/punk/rock music (etc) is all really shallow and boring.  There are exceptions of course, such as Dan le Sac vs Scroobious Pip.  These guys are awesome!!!

Check em out!  (don’t be fooled by their performance on the x-factor)

Filed under: music by kiamo
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Dr Nazila Ghanea, an Oxford University human rights lecturer, has written a heavy article in the telegraph about the latest in a long line of violations of human rights against the Baha’is in Iran.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 19, that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression”, however this doesn’t perturb Iran’s Prosecutor General from removing this freedom from the 300,000 Baha’is in Iran.

Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi is Iran’s Prosecutor General and

has declared that the very expression of affiliation to the Bahá’í faith is illegal. This was communicated in a letter to the Minister of Intelligence, Ghulam-Husayn Ejeyee, who needs no encouragement to violate rights. Human Rights Watch named him one of Iran’s ‘Ministers of Murder’ four years ago.

Najafabadi stated that

“Adherence to a principle or belief is free [to anyone], but to openly express and proclaim it in
order to cause deviation in the thoughts of others, to manipulate, pretend, disseminate [ideas],
and otherwise attempt to deceive and confuse people will not be permissible.”

On March 4rth, the International Baha’i Community sent an open letter (found here) to Najafabadi, in which it responds

Such a statement tests credulity to an extreme. It is widely recognized that similar statements have been used by repressive regimes throughout the centuries to justify the arbitrary suppression of conscience and belief. The suggestion that it is possible to separate the convictions held by an individual from their expression in words and action begins an entirely false line of reasoning. To see its absurdity one need only ask oneself what it means to have faith if it is not consciously manifested in one’s relationships with others.

Najafabadi is simply just paving the way to yet more persecution, despite fantastic claims that “Bahá’ís in Iran are provided with all facilities afforded other Iranian citizens, and are respected as human beings” and that “much kindness had always been shown Bahá’í citizens of Iran”.

While the Baha’is are the particular victims of Najafabadi’s statements, the violations of freedom extend to all the Iranian people.  The Prosecutor General is essentially shutting down freedoms of religion/belief, expression and even conscience for all of Irans people.

Iran’s criminalisation of the freedom of expression rights of hundreds of its Bahá’í citizens does not bode well for the wider cause of opinion, thought and conscience. In September last year, International PEN expressed alarm at increasing and widespread violations. The situation has just got a lot worse.

Dr Ghanea’s article is well worth a read -> go read!

Filed under: Baha'i by kiamo
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My employer at GoKidsGo discovered my blog last week, and yesterday he joked that I obviously have too much time on my hands.  A notion I’d easily go along with, but, it did trigger me thinking about why I choose to take the time to blog.  For me it seems to come down to three main reasons, any one of which is good enough on its own.

1) Writing regularly improves our ability to think and communicate well.  The written word is increasingly becoming a part of every day life.  We email, tweet, text, instant message, comment, write proposals and reports, and blog now, more than ever.  Learning to write well is a skill well worth taking the time to pursue.

the words we use to write with are the same words we use to think with, learning to write well has ramifications that go beyond the merely technical. As we improve our writing ability, we improve our ability to think – to build an argument, to frame issues in compelling ways, to weave apparently unrelated facts into a coherent whole. – Dustin Wax

2) Taking the time to think about things on a deeper level, helps define who you are.  In addition, culminating your thoughts into coherent conclusions leaves your mind free, and better able to focus on other tasks.  I find it’s worth the effort, and results in better efficiency and productivity in other areas of my life that require attention.

3) Online identity and personal brand.  Blogging is the corner stone of your online identity, and is a great way to make the world more aware of who you are and what you do.
People google people now more than ever before, and will do so even more tomorrow.  It makes sense, and is completely morally sound.  If I might be working with someone, it’s worth taking the time to get to know them, as best I can before taking the plunge.
It’s extremely likely that google will have results on me, so its worth taking control of those results to better define who you are and why your valuable.  Your name is essentially a brand that gets associated with the skills and qualities you have to offer the world.

What other reasons do you think its worth (or perhaps not worth) blogging?  If you already blog tell us why you choose to do so.  Or if you don’t, what’s held you back?  Share you’re thoughts in the comments below.

Filed under: freelance thinking by kiamo
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