Author Archives: Thor

270. King Kong and Big Data

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Thor

Big data is an enabling tech­nol­ogy. That is, it enables both risks and rewards, accord­ing the skills and judge­ments of those who engage it (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/it-pro/business-it/how-big-data-can-result-in-bad-data-20130720-hv11k.html?rand=8744926). Human beings have never been known to turn down an enabling tech­nol­ogy, regard­less of the … Con­tinue read­ing →

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269. Almost the same, almost forever (but not quite)

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Thor

Noth­ing in nature ever repeats itself. Not quite. No two heart­beats are ever the same. No two orbits of the earth around the sun are ever the same. No two human faces are ever the same, no two trees, or … Con­tinue read­ing →

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268. Trouble with the Sock God

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Thor

Have you noticed? It’s the small gods who always make trou­ble. Take the Sock God. With­out fail, each time I wash clothes, the Sock God sneaks in and steals a sock. Once I tried to beat the bug­ger by buy­ing … Con­tinue read­ing →

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267. All hidden truth to bring to light

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Thor

Art is not a part of things until we make it a part. An artist is some­one with the skill of help­ing oth­ers to see the extra­or­di­nary in the ordi­nary. She finds a sym­phony in nature where oth­ers have heard … Con­tinue read­ing →

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266. Pity your neighbour’s cat

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Thor

The most cer­tain qual­ity of power is that those who seek it will mis­use it. A sec­ond cer­tainty is that an army of zom­bies will eagerly imi­tate their lead­ers. And so it is with “cyber war­fare”. Gov­ern­ment lead­ers rou­tinely spy … Con­tinue read­ing →

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265. The Limits of Education

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Thor

“Edu­ca­tion does not make us edu­ca­ble. It is our aware­ness of being unfin­ished that makes us edu­ca­ble.” ~ Paulo Freire, Ped­a­gogy of Free­dom. How much time have you invested in edu­ca­tion? How much value has your edu­ca­tion given you? How … Con­tinue read­ing →

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264. Evidence – The Alchemy of the Ages

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Thor

What do politi­cians, vot­ers, the cap­tains of indus­try, drug com­pa­nies, priests and door-to-door sales­men all have in com­mon? Not much. How­ever, every one of them has an addic­tion to evi­dence. Not any evi­dence. The evi­dence they crave (and will pay … Con­tinue read­ing →

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