SuperHappyDevHouse

Bill and ted, originally uploaded by Br3nda.

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i've just tagged a new release of Flickr Ripper drupal module. New feature is filter imported photos by tag.

Flickr Rippr reads flickr.com for users latest public photos, and turns these into content (nodes) on your drupal website.

You need only publish to flickr.com, and they will automagically appear on your drupal website after each cron run. Join this up with the Views module and make photo galleries, block, and other awesomes.

Example here: http://coffee.geek.nz/photos

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Firefox's Robert O'Callahan on software patents in NZ,

"every developer is an inventor; coming up with new ways of doing things is not exceptional, it's what our developers do every single day. Invention created at such a rate does not deserve or benefit from years of monopoly protection. Indeed, it will be crippled if we are forced to play the patent system "to the hilt", to acquire vast numbers of our own software patents and to navigate the minefield of other people's patents."

-- http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roc/archives/2010/07/mozilla_and_sof.html

h/t Holloway

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Tonight i grabbed a list of New Zealand members of parliament who are on twitter, and wrote some code to calculate how many are actaully engaging with people on twitter versus using it only for broadcasting messages.

Update: tweets containing @redalertblog are no longer counted as interaction.

UPDATE 2: continuously updating version now at http://coffee.geek.nz/engage

Name ReTweets Replies/mentions Broadcasts Percentage Interaction aarongilmore MP - NZ National Party, 35 yo, father of two mad about my family, country and community 0 0 20 0.00% amyadamsmp MP for Selwyn 0 0 20 0.00% annettekingmp Deputy Leader of NZ Labour Party; MP for Rongotai 0 0 6 0.00% carmelsepuloni Originally a Taranaki Girl but now an Aucklander - Tongan/ Samoan/ Palagi - Labour Party MP - GO LABOUR! 1 3 17 15.00% charleschauvel 0 0 20 0.00% chesterborrows Member of Parliament for Whanganui In beautiful New Zealand 0 1 19 5.00% chrisauchinvole 0 0 7 0.00% chrisfinlayson Attorney-General, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotations, Welllington National Member of Parliament 0 3 17 15.00% chrishipkins MP for Rimutaka 0 0 19 0.00% cjtremain 0 0 10 0.00% clarecurranmp Dunedin South Labour MP 2 12 3 80.00% craigfossmp National Party Member of Parliament and very ambitious for TukiTuki, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Focusing on unleashing our potential. 0 1 19 5.00% darienfenton Labour MP 13 14 6 70.00% darrenhughesmp NZ Labour MP 0 2 18 10.00% davidclendon Member of Parliament for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 0 3 17 15.00% davidshearermp Labour MP for Mt Albert 0 0 20 0.00% garethmp I'm the youngest Green MP in the NZ Parliament. 0 1 15 6.25% grantrobertson1 Wellington Central MP 0 3 17 15.00% greencatherine 0 0 17 0.00% heatherroymp 0 0 20 0.00% hondavidcarter Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity and Minister of Forestry 0 0 20 0.00% jacindaardern Labour List Member of Parliament based in Auckland Central. Won't tweet what I had for breakfast- make no promises beyond that. 0 8 11 42.11% jackiebluemp New Zealand politician, breast physician and breast cancer campaigner 0 0 1 0.00% jcolemanmp MP for Northcote, Minister of Immigration and Broadcasting 0 0 23 0.00% johnkeypm Prime Minister of New Zealand 0 0 20 0.00% katrinashanks I am a National Party List MP 0 1 19 5.00% keithlocke 0 0 20 0.00% kennedygraham Green Party MP, Aotearoa, New Zealand 0 0 19 0.00% kevinhague Green MP, Aotearoa, New Zealand 0 2 15 11.76% leesgallowaymp Labour MP for Palmerston North. Land Information, Associate Health (Drugs and Alcohol), Associate Defence. 0 7 9 43.75% liannedalzielmp 0 1 19 5.00% louiseupston National MP for Taupo. Proud to be part of a government improving NZers lives. 0 0 14 0.00% lynnepillay 0 0 10 0.00% maungakiekiesam MP for Maungakiekie 0 1 6 14.29% metiria I am a Green Party Coleader and MP in Aotearoa . 0 4 12 25.00% moanamackey Labour MP from East Coast 0 3 17 15.00% nikkikaye MP for Auckland Central 0 1 18 5.26% paulquinnmp 0 0 8 0.00% phil_goff Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party & MP for Mt Roskill 1 3 15 16.67% philtwyford Labour Party MP in the New Zealand Parliament. Spokesperson on Auckland Issues, Disarmament, and Associate Foreign Affairs - Development Assistance 11 11 7 61.11% rodneyhide 0 0 20 0.00% rogerdouglas 0 0 20 0.00% russelnorman MP and Green Party Co-Leader 0 0 19 0.00% stuartnashmp NZ Labour MP.
Spokesperson Revenue,
Associate Trade & Forestry 0 2 18 10.00% susiekew 0 2 18 10.00% swsio 0 5 17 22.73% -->

Found this video of the Bloggers predict battle earlier this year. Oh my i look tired - back when we had a 8week old baby.

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or at least how flickr users see them -- here are some of the top hits for "Scientist" on flickr:

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Tech Liberty have flow charts on how the process of copyright allegations would work in the new Copyright Act amendment bill.

http://techliberty.org.nz/flowcharts-for-the-new-copyright-infringing-fi...

I see some short time frames, for both sides - looks like only a week to accuse someone (that doesn't seem fair to me, it takes longer than that to bring in experts to be certain you have your facts straight, and are not making incorrect accusations)

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Thoughts on today's "un-conference"

It came outta the blue this conference. The topic is Open Government. There was another Open Government un-conference in Wellington last year. The organisers of today's event seem to have announced their event without any conversation of any kind with the previous organisers, nor with those already working hard on open government in New Zealand.

All was not lost - quite a few of those who give sweat and blood to the open government mission were able to come today.

But I am struck by the contrast between the groups. The biggest filter of who attends is the day of the week. The first open government un-conference in Wellington was on a Saturday and Sunday. Those that came were those who really do give a damn. They were all willing go give up their weekend to attend, which immediately tells you they care beyond a pay check.

The attendees today, may also really care about the subject, but they also need to have the ability to spend a monday at an open government barcamp. It immediately removes those who work in other fields, and/or cannot get permission from employers. It is a different crowd. It attracts those looking for funded work, which is all okay with me, but it excludes many those who build on open government data because they see a problem that needs solving, and not for their own monetary gain.

Microsoft sponsored the first. This one they pretty much completely hosted. They was enough reason for many to stay away -- and coupled with the suprise announcement and lack of involvement in any open government initiatives in NZ so far, those who pointedly didn't attend make a good point. I see this as undoubtedly microsoft trying to wedge their brand in with something successful. The question is will they really be able to take this movement they have tried to block so much in the past, and magically be able to repaint it as something they're all about? They seem to be on the start of a mission to do just that.

I like very much that one big giant elephant of an issue was not left unsaid: The sudden back track on software patents by a NZ government minister. Clare Curran was the champion who took the mic and said "WTF happened!" (paraphrased, Clare used more words.). Clare is on the same select committee where software patents were discussed and recognised as something that should not be allowed in New Zealand.

Much of the day today was not unconference. It was a panel who accepted only questions. Several subjects were raised by the panel that i personally had much to add to, but the format did not allow interjections. I didn't have questions, i had corrections, not questions (on open source, one laptop per child, and "digital divide"). It was not a discussion, it was a broadcast.

We broke into groups for discussion - and there were some great people at my table. I learned alot about how far government departments trust employees, on IT departments blocking social media (and therefore setting policy!), on how open.govt.nz can to exist. (the event was filmed, and I took notes with my digital pen, i'll review them and post online later).

Later it turned back into a series of broadcasted speeches. They were interesting truly, but once again not un-conference.

It was not a waste of time, and there was very little disagreement between people I thought were polar opposites. The issue of WTF happened to software patents wasn't really debated as it could/should have been. There were several people with strange opinions of open source (who now are better informed), and I met interesting and thoughtful people.

Oh, and i got much knitting done.

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We are a group of New Zealand educators, technologists, polyglots, and more who contribute to the One Laptop Per Child project.

Our goal is to get a laptop loaded with educational tools into the hands of every one of the world's poorest children. OLPC has shipped to millions of children around the world, given laptops to every child and teacher across entire countries. The work continues.

We write software, test other people's software, design educational activities, and translate text. We are part of a global effort of professionals, volunteers, students, and people like yourself.

We also are deploying pilots into New Zealand schools. Come talk to us about the hardware, and the educational software.

We meet once a week in Wellington and Auckland. Everyone is welcome to join us. We have brunch, coffee, and conversation while continuing the good work.

http://laptop.org.nz/

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Precisely., originally uploaded by Keith Bolland.

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Curly fries. Quesadillas. Gumbo. Guess where we went on a rare night out.

Scientists are normal people. http://geekfeminism.org/2010/06/23/scientists-are-normal-people-some-chi...

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short version of how crap laws happen in NZ: after the public get their say and select commitee comes to a conclusion, a last second amendment happens to the bill/act in the house

unfolding today:

RT @gnat for fuck's sake, software patents back on the table in NZ? http://bit.ly/aBnsnz this is the same backdoor post-select-committee lobbying that saw S92A (the "Judith Tizard's Career in Politics Memorial Amendment") added.

RT @lightweight #NZICT & #MS failed to submit on #SWPatents to select committee. Easier to influence the Govt directly after the fact. Reprehensible.

http://www.coffee.geek.nz/sites/default/files/images/screenshot-p4s-dele...

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bedtime smiles

allow me to look down apon those who see microbloggin as a place to discuss what they had for breakfast...

If that's the best you can think of, and the only thing you expect to see on such places, then I'm afraid it may be wasted on you. Unless you give it a go you'll never know.

in contrast, here's what microbloggin is *actually* used for:

Lobbying - anyone can publish, without massive funding and spare time needed. You can get a message out that otherwise would have never been heard.

Human Rights - as with above, human rights violations are exposed and discussed on twitter, 140chars at a time. You can hear about these if you read major news websites, but they tend to be one story and then gone. Twitter repeats and repeats over and over, that a video has been leaked showing US military personal laughing as they kill civilians.

Fixing things - I didn't realise the front page of http://wellington.geek.nz was broken. I not only found out, but someone sent me a link to a fix on twitter.

Helping each other - I need cardboard boxes to move house. I found a whole heap of them by asking on twitter.

Advice - "My two year old just put nail polish in her eye, what do i do?". "The baby won't sleep, what else can i try?"

Sending good vibes - love a service, send some love via twitter.

Exposing crap service - had a telco charge you for services you never signed up for and never used? bitch on twitter and possibly the telco will notice and fix it (where their 0800 number people won't) -- or buy a product that breaks a week later and the retail store refuses to sort this, tell the world via twitter.

of course, if you wake up one morning and somone wonderful has made you breakfast in bed, feel free to tell everyone too.

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There's solar activity coming -- and our lives are so reliant on electronic whatsits, that this is going to be interesting.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/16/solar_storms/

In pre-electronic and barely electrical 1859, a" perfect space storm" shorted out telegraph lines in the US and Europe, causing numerous fires. It also made the Northern Lights visible as far south as Rome, Havana and Hawaii according to NASA — contemporary accounts relate how a group of campers in the Rocky Mountains were awakened by an "auroral ight, so bright that one could easily read common print. Some of the party insisted that t was daylight and began the preparation of breakfast." breakfast."

oh, first world problems.

this leads to me wondering what I'd do without electronics -- transient storms meaning things stop working for short periods of time.

Looking after servers will get interesting.
The hot water system needs power and gas to work.
i'm assuming the reticulated gas be fine, so I can cook - will be a pain to prepare baby formula.
Power for lights.
Power for heating.
Various things that control the car. Luckily we're not far from the city.
though, I'm unsure how I'd pay for anything with ATMs and eftpos not working.

Yeah, we're screwed.

Though my thoughts are lead to those at the local hospital. Everything from life support to dialysis.

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Over in the UK - Record industry targets Google for linking to infringing songs

http://thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/06/recording-industry-targets-g...

yup, linking.

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If a New Zealand soccer player did some of those wuzzy fall down theatrics so popular in men's worldcup soccer they would get no respect ever again from this rugby nation

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Iceland has passed laws giving strong protection to whistle blowers and journalists.

Many countries offer insufficient or no protection for those who expose corruption - Iceland wants to not have a repeat of the financial crisis that many knew was coming but were unable to expose without reprisal.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/icelandic_law_seeking_become_epicenter_...

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