vobiblog

Everyone keeps on telling me what a great guy Bill Gates is. He is filthy rich, owns a large stake in the worlds most profitable software company and more recently, has been known for giving away massive amounts of money for the greater good. Most notably, he has pumped hundreds of millions into HIV research. All good so far, right?

I think he is an idiot, not just because I hate Microsoft and all their products, but because he seams captive to the popular dogma that technology will solve all societies ills. Supporting HIV research would give you the impression that he actually cares about the welfare of the average peasant in Africa. After all, Africa is the continent that is suffering the most from HIV. This is compared to western countries where walking down the street probably poses more threat to ones health than HIV. Yet his charitable body The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have donated large amounts of money towards a program that is at best going to work over a vast number of the 3rd worlds most vulnerable. (more…)

Is there such a thing? It is arguable that there isn’t. Yet who am I to judge, I am just another crazy West End cyclist. However, a lot of people have been saying that they want to do their bit for the environment by buying a Toyota Prius. I have always thought that hybrid cars are more green-wash than anything else, so I decided to investigate. Before you fork over $37,400 of your hard earned, you should find out the facts.

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As an architecture student, I have a lot of large format work that I have to store. My personal philosophy is that no one should be allowed to purchase a steel plasts chest until they actually own a house and don’t have to move. However, the current system of storing plans in mailing tubes and folded up anywhere they fit is clearly not working. Enter my latest invention, the the home made ‘plans painting’.

What first appears to be a piece of average modern art (or a gun cabinet), opens into a drawer for storing A0 artwork. A few lengths of 19x40mm pine, a sheet of 3mm ply, two hinges and a latch is all it takes.

Some of you may noticed that my blog is now carrying advertising. Rest assured that it is not the desperate grab for cash that it make first look like.

For a long time now, I have been interested in alternative media and Internet publishing. In general, there are three ways you can do this:

1. Build up enough content and hope that people will pay some subscription fee (or donation)
2. Rely on advertising revenue, be it contextual ads or intrusive flashing banner ads
3. Fund it yourself and do it as a hobby

I have always felt that banner ads are a waste of time for both the content provider and the advertiser. They are annoying, intrusive and rarely applicable to the viewer. For example, I am on rsvp.com.au. They have gathered detail information about me through the process of creating a profile. Despite this, I am constantly bombarded with banner ads for products aimed at women.

A few years ago, Google turned the Internet advertising market up on its head by providing context based, text only advertising. In theory, the ads displayed here, will be relevant to the content I write. It sounds like a good idea, but I have no first hand experience so see if it does actually work in this situation. The way the system allocates advertising to my site is totally hands off. That is, I have little control over what ads are displayed on my site and they are certainly not endorsed by me. At the same time, advertisers have no control over what I write on my site. This satisfies many ethical dilemmas that can arise when advertising and content are combined.
For the next few months at least, my blog will continue to carry advertising. This this time I will attempt to post regularly on non personal issues to see if it actually lifts the number of views my site receives each month currently it is in the order of 500 unique visits. If it actually generates some income, that’s great, I can spend more time writing and less time working. If not, at least I will no that there is no money to be made out of independent blogs.

On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon at university in the workshop. Six of us were trying to work out the best way to make a 1m cantilever platform with 6 x 2m lengths of wood, string and duct tape (please, no jokes about hamsters). Anyway, due to the tightass nature of QUT, we were not able to store the wood there, and it had to be taken home. Everyone else in the group had an excuse as to why they couldn’t take it home. Three of them were catching the bus, fair enough I guess. One was catching the train. They have been getting a little squeezy during peek hour. Also fair enough. Another was driving and said it wouldn’t fit (What are you driving dude! a mini?). It was up to me to be a hero and save the day. Armed with duct tape I taped the wood to my bike and rode home.

How elite am I? Faster and less smelly than public transport, less effort carrying shit than walking, more carrying capacity than a Mini, more looks than Anna Nicole Smith walking down Queen Street Mall topless. To all those who saw me, I hope I made you commute home on Tuesday a little more amusing than usual.