The clever Damien Mason has joined the ranks of avant card artists with his gorgeous kraken. I was special, and got an advance copy, but any regular peon can pick one up from somewhere community minded or cultural in their area.
This is just the packaging and instructions that go with the suspicious zip-lock bag of chai tea leaves that I plan to leave on a friend's desk tomorrow morning.
If you can be bothered to make chai properly, saucepan and all, get these leaves. The blend of spices warns your stomach and your heart. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can taste the love in there, too.
The authors pose the idea of nudges: acts that have a small effect on people's choices, while maintaining the opportunity to make a full range of choices.
In the introduction, the authors encourage using these nudges to build a better society in a range of ways. Their choice of a bright yellow background and an elephant silhouette for the cover suggests that they aren't above using these nudges to get their book noticed, either. Though to be fair, they do seem to believe in the power of nudges for positive change, so I guess that spreading the idea is in the public interest.
So far I've only read the introduction, but I recommend the book to policy makers, lay-economists and people interested in improving the world on the basis of the introduction alone.
I want to share this place with you. It's a park in central Canberra, just as autumn is beginning its approach. The leaves on the shaggy grass range wildly, with great green leaves bigger than my hand falling on top of brown, decaying skeleton leaves, and being covered in turn by floating yellow slips. The smell of leaf mould takes the fore, suggesting the atmosphere of a tropical holiday from years ago. But I can't pick up that feeling. The crisp cold gives another sentiment entirely.
(I was picked up at this point, so the description's going to be left like this - unfinished, but worth keeping.)
I've just lost my first write up of BarCamp yesterday, for lack of saving. Stupidity! So here are the bits I promised, and I'll try to fit the rest of the write up in tomorrow.
For @fitzie_curtin, the QR code from my badge and some others that I rejected, but still like:
For the people at my transmedia presentation, the references that I promised:Wired Magazine - Transmedia: Entertainment Reimagined
Other linked Wired articles - Transmedia: Conspiracy for Good, which I mentioned in my presentation and 'Transmedia: Doctor Who and Transmedia: Salt, which I didn't. The core article is my favourite single piece as a primer on what Transmedia is. I'm also extremely excited about what the Dr Who article promises for this year's season.
I'm also looking forward to the article at http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118005442?refCatId=13, which I discovered while writing this, and have put on my reading list.
Finally, for myself I have some fun links for the final write up:
I have a fantastic family!
A few days ago, my Mum called about the logistics of sending me a package. I was thrilled to be getting some bits from home and assumed it would be some almond bread (yes, there was context) or something similarly lovely and homely. But upon picking it up, there was an enormous box waiting for me. It tuns out that they'd sent me a stone-grill pizza maker, complete with sauce, flour, yeast, oil and all the other basics for making a pizza. AMAZING!!!
I'm stunned by how generous, unexpected and generally fantastic my surprise pizza package was. It's even more proof that I have a fantastic family!
Mum, Dad and S, huge thanks to you all! Here's some proof of the pizza:
