Listening to: not too sure… this was computer generated.

RIMG0009

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Originally uploaded by flash5.>

My latest piece of work by Mephisto Jones.

UPDATE: Mephisto Jones often sells his work (in Wellington) through Rex
Royale or Good as Gold.

Listening to: BBC Radio 1

I have spent the last few days deep in a financial management course. Financial management
is a topic I find fascinating… it is like looking behind the curtain. My interest
was sparked by one of my lecturers Colin
Campbell Hunt, but because of my operational responsibilities I have less and
less chance to practice my skills.

As part of the course we did a case study on an automation company. While the numbers
side of the analysis was fascinating what really opened my eyes was how 10 years of
experience changed what I was seeing. Having spent 5 years making management decisions
and 5 years being on the receiving end of Dotcom management decisions I was able
to the see the psychology of the management in the numbers we were looking at. You
could see that they were making decisions with out looking at the reality of their
situation. You could see how they were taking credit for successes that were more
likely attributable to one off events such as currency fluctuations.

Just gives you an idea of how much you miss when you study this stuff when you’re
20 years old. Or maybe I am taking credit for a one off success based on having a very
good teacher

Listening to: A Pain That I’m Used to - Depeche Mode

Wired has a very
good article on the politics and economics that surruond the concept of the MP3
phone. The article provides a great insight into the nature of the cellphone market.
Well worth a read.

Listening to: Lights - Editors

The new E-Ink website is up… big improvement
in design, highlighting the technology and highlighting current applications.

Listening to: The office waking up

BBC World has an interesting
article on the trials and tribulations of setting up your own wind turbine at
home:

The planning application was initially refused after a neighbour objected - over
what turned out to be an unnecessary concern.

“She said it was going to kill her cat,” he said, “Which it wasn’t.

A useful pointer from Kirk:

If you are keen to set up your own, Jaycar sell a kitset.

Listening to: Airconditioners

Mr B Ford now has a blog… he is using it
as a planning tool for his upcoming trip overseas.

He is part of the dynamic duo responsible for the 12
Pubs of Christmas last year… Be very afraid.

Listening to: The happy happy joy joy song in my head

Today we get to
find out who of Rove, Libby etc. gets indicted.

On a related note…The
White House cabal - an opinion piece by Lawrence B. Wilkerson served as chief
of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell from 2002 to 2005.

UPDATE: Hmmm maybe not.
More waiting.

Listening to: Office Noise

iTunes Aust is up… but buying from NZ doesn’t seem to be a go’er and
there are no problems buying from NZ. The CC mechanism doesn’t use the address to
validate the purchase… so just choose your favourite state and let rip.

*thanks* pablo… no, really, thanks and my
credit card thanks you too.

UPDATE: Due to Apples’ aggressive upgrade policy my iPod is too old to play purchased
tracks… oh well it looks like my credit card has been saved after all

UPDATE 2: From the discussion
thread from Mike:

There was a loophole that initially allowed NZ credits cards to be used, this
has been fixed.

Listening to: Here It Comes (Subethics) - Confucious & Mysterious D

There is an Aeon Flux
Featurette now online. Some of it I think will be cool… some of it, like Theron
catching a fly in her eye lashes, just doesn’t work in real life.

Listening to: We’ll Be Together - Sting

Arstechnica has a very detailed review of
the Microsoft Command Shell.
It looks like a seriously impressive bit of software.