topicalhuman.com

I’ve linked to the Red Meat comics before. And I’m going to again right now. I think Ted is damn funny.

I hate just listing links, but I’m tired and I have too many I want to post.

dg links to a video of a talk give by Cory Doctorow at Microsoft regarding DRM.

dg links to another place to buy DRM-free music online.

Five suggestions for better communication with clients at The Social Customer Manifesto.

Triple J’s unearthed site - discovering unsigned bands across Australia for about 10 years.

DIY approach to getting an ISBN for your new book.

If you are interested in how the global price of Oil is rising, and the politics behind this, you might be interested in this article here.

I found this really interesting article recently written by David Churbuck. He is a VP of Web Marketing for Lenovo, one of the biggest manufacturers of computers in the world. It deals with the changing ways to monitor and to respond to customer feedback and complaints. It also outlines some of the challenges a vendor faces in providing first class support. It’s a long article, but worth a read if your living revolves in any way around supporting a product (particularly if it is a technical one).

I was just taking a gander over at Vincenze’s Pit and saw this sweet ride.

Check it out: it looks awesome, seems to have zip in it, and it has zero emissions. Sounds gold to me!

The latest thing to capture my imagination is Parkour. From what I can make out, it is a form of ‘free running’ that originated in France (although I’m not even 100% about that).

What I am sure about is just how much Parkour ROCKS! Check this out now! Otherwise, just go to Youtube and do a search on Parkour. There are plenty of video’s there.

I so need to get fit again. This actually reminds me of the running I did as a kid growing up in north Queensland, but instead of urban scapes it was riverbeds with huge boulders. Okay, less gymnastics too.

[Update] I just found this Parkour tutorial page. Sweet.

The Savage chickens ask a very salient question. Yes, it’s funny, but a damn good question.

Maybe we should just punish Mel for his trespasses by sentencing him to a week in Southern Lebanon. At least that might bring some of the focus back to the really important issues.

My mother has been applying for lots of jobs recently, after completing her Linguistics degree.

Tonight she has learnt that she has successfully applied for a job as a Visiting Professor of English at the Seoul National University of Technology (in case you’re unsure, that is in South Korea). She will be off in the next few weeks for her big adventure.

Congratulations Mum - I know I speak for the rest of your children also when I say we’re very proud of you!

Dave Winer writes an interesting piece, at least partly inspired by his involvement at the recent BlogHer event, which touches on some of the issues surrounding the misunderstandings men and women have about each other.

I would like in particular to briefly follow on from a point Dave makes while describing himself: I’m 75 percent gentleman and 25 percent Neanderthal.

This resonated with me, because I can relate to that. As Dave didn’t offer a deep explanation of exactly what he meant, I’m going to assume that how I identified with that statement is what Dave meant. It may not be what he meant, but that doesn’t really matter.

I can relate to that because I think I’m a well-behaved, curious, intelligent guy who enjoys few things better than a good conversation with good company (this is the gentleman part). However, I love watching football, drinking beer and not having to care who I offend with my farting and belching (this is the Neanderthal part). Obviously, the paralells can, and do, run much deeper than these examples.

I think that most guys I know are pretty similar to this. What I find interesting is that I think that most women like men who are this way. I know many people might find this ridiculous, but when I look at some of the most happily married people I know, the man is never some super hero find of guy - he is often just a regular guy like me. And this dynamic isn’t just confined to marriage - it happens everywhere I see productive relationships between men and women.

There are a few possible reasons for this, such as men and women actually enjoy the differences in each other (at least some of them), and that there are practical advantages in a man being a Gentleman/Neanderthal.

Perhaps where problems arise between men and women is that the expectation of which type of behaviour is going to present itself is often wrong. It is wrong because something like this cannot be easily predicted, even by men. I think that what happens is that the ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Neanderthal’ don’t always present themselves when women want them to.

That isn’t to say that men can’t try to please the women in their lives, but as humans beings, thinking about people other than ourselves doesn’t always come easily to any of us. Ultimately, I think men and women have far more in common with each other than popular thought admits. But the differences are what make men and women better together, and also what causes the friction. Unsolvable? Probably…thoughts welcome.

I was reading Mark Cuban’s blog, and a few links later I found this site for a film called ‘Who killed the Electric Car?‘. It looks like an interesting movie, and an even more interesting topic. I hope it gets a release here in Australia.