tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74830602009-02-21T23:33:55.893+13:00Comments on the world. Oh, by the way. These are my opinions and are unlikely to be shared by my employer (or a lot of other people).Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-60409602321526192602007-07-06T13:55:00.000+12:002007-07-06T13:58:34.647+12:00

I noticed today that it's been nearly 13 months since I posted. I have officially decided that this blog stuff is just too hard to keep up with and contribute something useful and not feel guilty about thinking about my blog when I'm at work. I don't know how FSJ/Scoble et al. do it.So, I think I'll just fade away - for the moment.See ya.

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1150713790586585812006-06-19T21:27:00.000+12:002006-06-19T22:43:10.600+12:00

Following my last post, I've been thinking what my current "future service" would look like. I say current, because I don't think it's possible to imagine what things will be like more than a few years out at the moment -- too much change going on.Partially, I'm influenced by a new toy a friend and I were playing around with at the weekend. Stu works for Sandman. Basically if you have lots of

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1149934193782278332006-06-10T20:52:00.000+12:002006-06-10T22:09:54.143+12:00

Alongside Moore's Law, there's a matching phenomenon for bandwidth known as Nielsen's Law, which basically states that end-user connection speeds grow at 50% per year. This has held true for some time and seems to be continuing. At the moment, I have a 2Mb down/128kb up DSL service. The best I'd get based on the technology installed in NZ is around 8Mb. If/when we get to ADSL2+, I could be

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1149504365681523092006-06-05T22:06:00.000+12:002006-06-05T22:46:05.696+12:00

Fundamentally, I don't think that the government has done the right thing unbundling the local loop. I'm not saying that Telecom were doing the right thing either, but unbundling is not the solution.In the last few weeks, Telecom's share price has dropped considerably on news of unbundling - not good for shareholders. However, it's also bad news for the country, because unbundling isn't going to

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1149067544490639702006-05-31T21:15:00.000+12:002006-05-31T21:25:44.503+12:00

So I was watching Boston Legal last night. Good for a chuckle. One thing I like is that they can use short courtroom sequences to make sweeping generalisations that sound soo good.Last night was all about privacy in the internet. Basically they were suing a company that made sensitve personal information available via their website. The defence was that the company had followed "standards" for

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1148940424774930712006-05-30T10:03:00.000+12:002006-05-30T10:07:04.796+12:00

This blogging thing turned out to be harder than I thought. In my defence, I've had two promotions and a new baby since I last posted so there have been a few things going on. I've come up with a few new "laws" too.I intend to start talking about new stuff, perhaps on a less frequent basis and see how I go.LLUThe NZ government has decided to unbundle the local loop. Lots of people are applauding

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1113207580105643852005-04-11T20:16:00.000+12:002005-04-12T08:46:46.796+12:00

Perspective is important... When it really comes down to it, being able to help people like Friday here matters - a lot. The link here takes you to the blog of Scot Harrison, a photojournalist on the Anastasis. Currently in Liberia in West Africa, this is just another example of the great work these guys do. (This takes a while to load, but the change is dramatic)

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1112910846069935862005-04-08T10:28:00.000+12:002005-04-08T10:27:52.820+12:00

Here's an interesting article that I tripped across this morning. As is always the case with these sortes of things, it takes great pleasure in pointing out the silliness of certain "security" practices, so it almost misses the important points.There are two real problems with this strategy of classifying and declassifying stuff all over the place:the bureaucratic overhead; andthe fact that if

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1111375169959097462005-03-21T15:19:00.000+12:002005-03-21T15:19:29.960+12:00

Man, this blogmap thing is getting lots of air play. I'm still trying to come up with a use for it and I've bitched on both Scoble's and Chando's blogs about how it seems of little value, but still feel strangely drawn to be on the map. So I'll stay there for the moment - still feeling unimpressed and slightly voyeuristic looking at the location of all these other people - until someone can give

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1111102713522294542005-03-18T12:37:00.000+13:002005-03-18T12:38:33.526+13:00

Just found Chandu Thota's blogmap toy. It's an interesting use of technology. Unfortunately because NZ isn't on the map yet, I've lied and told it I still live in England ;-) No one I recognise around that neighbourhood though - yet.To be honest, although I've added this to my blog for the moment, it seems a bit cutesy and I'm struggling to come up with a real use for it. It's sort of like a

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1110878168779302442005-03-15T22:14:00.000+13:002005-03-16T08:52:36.116+13:00

I'm thinking about something new today, a little more close to home, but an interesting topic none the same. This is just a starter post.A recent article in the NZ Herald, points out that 24.2% of New Zealanders with tertiary qualifications are resident overseas. That's the highest in the OECD and compares with only 2% of Australians. A ot of people are worried about this - calling it the "Brain

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1110491041169059522005-03-11T10:43:00.000+13:002005-03-11T10:44:01.180+13:00

As my statistics professor used to say:There's lies, damned lies and statistics.No idea if this was his own invention or not. Probably not.Anyway, Bruce Schneier's found another pearl. Apparently, you can't get a high security clearance in the Israeli army if you're into D&D. Sigh. I think everyone will agree that this is a bit stupid. I'm sure my statistics professor could drum a statistically

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1110490270090740682005-03-11T10:30:00.000+13:002005-03-11T10:31:10.100+13:00

This could almost have been one of those stupid "here I am again" posts that you catch on some aggregators like weblogs.asp.net. Seems like every man and his dog wants to let you know that they are still alive. Hardly a day goes by where I don't see a couple of them.That got me thinking - with all this blogging going on (wonder what percentage of internet traffic is blog reading vs. spam these

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109806245088988332005-03-03T12:30:00.000+13:002005-03-03T12:30:45.090+13:00

Here's another one for the "how useful is it really?" department.Telstra in Australia are working on a new product called Business Secure. It allows you to monitor your home or business remotely via the internet or your mobile. More fodder for the paranoia, I say.I don't see this as a useful surveilance tool. I suspect anyone able to afford it and set up to use it (i.e. with security staff) will

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109649545567584912005-03-01T16:58:00.000+13:002005-03-01T16:59:05.573+13:00

Bruce Schneier has turned up the 1,349,822nd example of poor airport security. I've already commented on his blog about this. Here's what I said...Yet more examples of ignoring Gibson's First and Third Laws.I long for the days when I used to be able to wander onto a plane with my Swissarmy knife in the pocket.We can bleat on about how bad it all is, but what can we _do_ about it??? How do we

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109647750590009672005-03-01T16:11:00.000+13:002005-03-01T16:29:10.593+13:00

Yay!Someone found my blog and it feels gooooood. This internet thing could really take off you know ;-)

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109303607276313942005-02-25T21:01:00.000+13:002005-02-25T21:03:58.733+13:00

In response to the deluge of requests, here are the current set of Gibson's Laws. By definition, they can change because I make the laws, but they're pretty static.Interestingly, this is the first time I've actually written them down like this. It will be interesting to see the results. I was going to be all thermodynamic and have a zeroth law, but none of them seem that important - yet. Maybe

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109302242540381202005-02-25T16:30:00.000+13:002005-02-25T16:30:42.543+13:00

My current job is solution architecture. Fundamentally, that means that for a set of requirements, I do the high level design to a point where I can produce an accurate fixed-price quote to complete the actual job we're being asked to do. The first part of that actual job is the detailed design.One of the hoops I have to jump through to get my design signed off is a review by various architects

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109280564700172402005-02-25T10:12:00.000+13:002005-02-25T10:29:24.703+13:00

Peter made a comment regarding my response to The Economist article I mentioned yesterday.The more I think about this, the more I think I am in a quandary. My default take on many things is Gibson's First Law:"Fundamentally most people are not out to get you"By which I mean that while there are some real arseholes in the world, most people are not malicious and do not do things just to piss you

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109190851059365342005-02-24T09:33:00.000+13:002005-02-24T11:00:58.146+13:00

Having just subjected myself to having yet another terrible photo taken in order to get a new passport, I was interested to read this article in the Economist. It's come up on Bruce Schneier's radar too.Biometrics is a "next big thing". The NZ government is, of course, working to create biometric passports to meet the US' entry requirements. That also means that if I want to go to the US without

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1109111200348602302005-02-23T11:21:00.000+13:002005-02-23T11:26:40.353+13:00

I've blogged about the work my friend Alison has done before. Recently though, she sent through a news article showing some before and after shots of one of the patients. "Mate!", is all that can be said. (And I used to worry about pimples!)Nothing short of miraculous.Here's the before and after shots of Abu. There are lots more great stories on the Mercy Ships website.

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1108945137901475982005-02-21T13:08:00.000+13:002005-02-21T13:18:57.903+13:00

Spent the weekend sitting in the sun in Christchurch. The whanua & I went down to see my brother & his partner. Excellent weather and a great time spent with Ciara running in and out of the surf at New Brighton. Too bad I had to come back to work.

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1108615440048214602005-02-17T17:42:00.000+13:002005-02-17T17:45:30.716+13:00

Here's an interesting website. Takes a few seconds for the Flash movies to load at times.http://www.theworldsmostextraordinarywebsite.co.nzClever, innovative, touching.Just donate.

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1108596882660225422005-02-17T11:50:00.000+13:002005-02-17T12:34:42.663+13:00

Anyone know a good requirements analysis methodology that doesn't cost the earth and take forever? I have some requirements that I want to formalise, validate and get signed off quickly.The way I see it, there's a triangle - excuse the ASCII art. Must work out how to get piccy's in this thing. Problem / \ / \ Requirement -- SolutionIf any arm of the

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7483060.post-1108532167931604312005-02-16T18:26:00.000+13:002005-02-16T18:37:04.676+13:00

For what it's worth to all of you reading this, there are a number of other blogs that I keep track of. Personally, I use SharpReader to follow them all via RSS. It sucks memory like there's no tomorrow (50MB just to track a few RSS feeds - sheesh) but it works. At the moment I'm following:Scoble (who isn't)http://weblogs.asp.net (Amazing the crap that's on there, but there are a few gems from

Rhys Gibsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09688464829425791003noreply@blogger.com0