I heard about this charges-laid-charges-dropped-investigation-re-opened circus targeting whistle-blower Julian Assange on the BBC … crikey! Remember TIME magazine’s little put-down about his mental state? Paranoid? Oh really? This extraordinarily courageous man wears a bullseye on his back. I wish him well. He’s up against people and organisations who present fake documents/bogus ‘evidence’ and pretend things [...]

Over the weekend I read a fascinating profile of WikiLeaks.org founder Julian Assange in a recent TIME magazine. (It’s available online at TIME here.) Here’s a bit that struck me (emphasis mine): Assange has retained a hacker’s mentality. He works from secret bunkers on major leaks and is convinced he is under surveillance from government [...]

From a review of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life … It’s full of tips and advice but the one I like best comes from Buffett via Dale Carnegie, author of How To Win Friends and Influence People: “Criticism is futile, said Carnegie. Rule number one, don’t criticise, condemn or complain.” … [...]

This small comment, in the middle of an article discussing Facebook privacy, explains what’s actually lost when certain spruikers (you know who I mean) expand their hyperbole and ‘puffery’ into potentially misleading claims … and then their offerings disappoint repeatedly, as in the case of some whose activities I have highlighted here. “They’ve lost the [...]

Is a claim of ‘tall poppy syndrome’ the last refuge of the scoundrel? (Yes, I know that’s supposed to be patriotism. But how about it? Or perhaps it could be claims of religious virtue?) Here’s a typical definition of the ‘syndrome’ … Tall poppy syndrome: a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are [...]

Judging by his latest informercial/newsletter, Property Guru/Property Genie Kieran Trass is not a happy camper … in fact he now says he ‘strongly regrets’ his involvement in a Spruiker Express-type seminar, presumably NZ Property Gurus which we discussed here earlier this year. It’s an interesting read, as you’ll see. I’ve left this extensive quote out [...]

This eye-catching card, um, caught my eye at the Howick Public Library this afternoon. It reminded me of my post: Why speak up? — in part because it assumes a public duty to report crime, or at least share information about it … and recognises there’s a ‘risk’ in standing up. It only makes me [...]

An ADHD friend of mine, a medical doctor from New York, once described medical diagnosis as ‘pattern recognition’. That’s why, he said, a competently written computer-based questionnaire can actually be more effective at diagnosing medical conditions than a human being: because the computer will ask ALL the relevant questions, not skipping some that don’t seem [...]

Blimey! Kiwi super hacker wows Vegas By Alice Neville | NZ Herald Thursday Jul 29, 2010 Kiwi Barnaby Jack wowed an American crowd this week by making cash spew out of an ATM machine like magic. But although he was in Las Vegas, Mr Jack is no magician – he’s a super hacker. … A [...]

Recent events have seen me revisiting a theme (or meme?) of this blog — and central to my own thinking: WHY SHOULD one speak up about perceived wrongdoing? Let me start by saying this: Life is complicated. Sometimes people and things can appear to be one thing on the surface but as you look closer, [...]