Mapping things 1: dogs ‘n kids

I was incredibly fortunate to be able to attend Open Data Day* last week in Christchurch. While there, the very awesome @kayakr (Jonathan Hunt) gave an unconference session on how to build APIs from static webpages**. After some playing around with a table I got from the Wellington City Council of inland offleash dog areas, I […]

Thoughts on using people to get into restaurants

I’ve not blogged for a while (sorry!), and today I’m going to do something a little different. I’m NOT going to blog about science*. Instead, I’m going to write down my feelings on why I don’t particularly think what this lady has been up to, is particularly awesome. And I’m going to be coming from […]

My Skeptics Conference 2013 talk and slides - ‘Nerds, nerds everywhere’

The weekend just passed saw the annual NZ Skeptics Conference 2013, held in my home town of Wellington. The theme was around science communication, and speakers featured such stars as Pamela Gay and Kylie Sturgess, as well as local speakers such as Martin Manning and fellow Scibloggers Siouxise Wiles and Elf Eldridge. For some unfathomable […]

Future Timeline – a visual representation Pt 2

After some agonising, I’ve decided to go with the easy route. Confused? See Pt 1 for an explanation of what this is all about :) So, here’s the full thing, in two formats: 1) Future Timeline - visual (a webpage, sorry about some of the mashed formatting. Time mutter grumble grumpy grumble) 2) A PDF (see […]

Future Timeline - a visual representation Pt 1

Future Timeline is an extremely interesting site.  Calling itself a “speculative timeline of future history”, it has page upon page of really interesting content. Some of it is very much based on fact, while others is based more on supposition and hypothesis. It’s an excellent exercise for casting one’s mind forward. Unfortunately, however, the structure […]

Overly honest scientists

Ahhhh, scientists.  As I’ve mentioned before, they can, indeed, actually be amusing. Shock, horror, etc… /waits for people to get back onto their chairs Right, so, just quickly, two amusing topics from the last few days, both on the subject of being, well, overly honest.   overly honest cover letter ‘Tis a busy time of […]

Amazing Mad Men smoking/drinking data visualisations

The visual.ly website is a great place to watch for infographics and data visualisations of all sorts*, and a recent one, brought to my attention by excellent publication Fast Company, is particularly boggling. In the words of its creators, it’s Analysis of characters’ bad behaviours in the TV Series Mad Men during the first season […]

DeSTEMber is here!

A quick note, today, to make sure that you all, dear readers, are aware of and following/taking part in #deSTEMber. What is it, you ask?  Well, the Google Science Fair peeps have teamed up with girlstart, with the stated aim being to get people more actively interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths). It’s going […]

Nov 14 partial eclipse in Wellington - odd light and weird shadows

As many people here in NZ know, today we’re getting to see a partial eclipse! Here in Wellington it peaked at 10:34, with 76% coverage.   For those who’re wondering why their shadow was sharp on one side and blurry on t’other. A Stuff article mentions that this might happen, but didn’t explain why… I’ve […]