a blog about information
You’ve been extremely generous, and we’ve passed £1000 in quick time. Amazing what the web makes possible.
We sleep rough on Friday. The weather forecast for Friday is not that brilliant, so this year we’re really going to be earning our Saturday morning tea and butties. Can I implore you to keep it up, and keep giving? It’s for a worthy cause.
And, during that time, he’s moved over fifty places in the Official World Golf Ranking, from 58th to 7th. Delightful golf from a truly talented player. One to watch for next year’s Majors. You can’t say I didn’t tell you.
Here’s what was said in pgatour.com’s Live Notes about the Fedex Cup near-miss:
PLAYOFF POINTS (7 p.m. ET): A year ago, Tiger Woods won the FedExCup by 12,578 points. On Sunday, Vijay Singh won the FedExCup by 551 points over Camilo Villegas (click here for final FedExCup point standings).
Three things proved to be the difference in Singh’s win this year:
1) Regular-season positioning: Singh finished seventh in the regular season in FedExCup points; Villegas finished 42nd. That was a difference of 2,350 points when the points were reset entering the Playoffs.
2) Villegas failed to make the cut at The Barclays by one shot. Had he made the cut, he would have received at least 2,098 points (the total Paul Goydos received by finishing last at The Barclays after making the cut).
“The only thing I can tell you is I was battling hard to make that cut,” Villegas said Sunday when asked about The Barclays. “… That’s the way this game goes. If I knew that was the case, I don’t know what I would have done different. But you’ve just got to be in the present.”
3) Singh won The Barclays after extending the playoff by making a 26-foot birdie putt on top of Sergio Garcia‘s 27-foot birdie putt. The difference between first and a tie for second (Kevin Sutherland was also in the playoff) at The Barclays was 4,600 points.
Love it or hate it, we work in a profession that has been kind to its participants over the years. Kind in terms of challenges and learning, kind in the context of personal development and career progression, kind when it comes to earnings and security. Of course, there have been peaks and troughs, redundancies and job losses, shutdowns and even meltdowns. But in the main we have much to be thankful for.
Which is why I am keen to participate in giving back whenever I get the chance.
Which brings me to Byte Night. An annual convocation of the profession, but with a difference. The convocation is late at night, in the open air, and on hard ground. Byte Night is where a couple of hundred of us sleep rough in order to raise funds for Action For Children.
Please support the event and the charity, and give. Give generously. Please. There’s a link in the sidebar and over here.
Saw this over at John M Willis’s blog:
I couldn’t help but smile. It reminded me of something I heard nearly thirty years ago, when I worked at Burroughs Corporation. One of our customers, Smiths Industries, had a mainframe that was finally ready for that great computer graveyard in the sky. Nobody had really expected that day to come, so no one was prepared for it: no counselling, no advice, nothing for the grieving DP department. A sad state of affairs.
Until one of them had an idea. Why not give everyone a tool, and involve the whole department in dismantling the machine? So that’s what they did. They handed out chisels and saws and pickaxes and pokers.
And hammers.
They hacked the computer. Literally. And left with the pieces. A cathartic and joyous experience. [Note: I heard this from a Smiths guy, I wasn’t actually there to witness it. But I liked the story, and have remembered it ever since.]
We are not far from a time when we will order maps like we order pizza. Confused? Bear with me, humour me for a bit.
Ordnance Survey maps have always been rich in information:
What is shown above is a very UK-centric view, with the Ordnance Survey example. I’m sure there are equally good examples all over the world. However, most such maps seem to provide information that is primarily directed at the hiker, the trekker, the cyclist, the wanderer.
I’ve never driven a car. Which means I’ve used a lot of public transport over the years. We have three wonderful children. We like visiting places, both urban and rural. And there have been times, many times, when I’ve wanted better information on a map. Information like “Which are the tube stations where carrying pushchairs is easy?” ” Where is the nearest clean toilet with baby-changing facilities?” “Where is the nearest place we can get some water and some fruit?” Information that pertained to the carless childfull urban public-transport-using parent.
My children are well past their pushchair times. But my pushchair times are not up yet, nor are my urban-warrior-with-child times: in less than a decade I expect to be a grandfather. Which is why I was delighted to see this:
One of the key advantages of today’s technologies is that custom delivery of information is possible cheaply and efficiently. So soon I can imagine I will be ordering maps like pizza:
You get my drift. Thanks to Euan for the tweet:
www.diaroogle.com — the place you want to go to when you want to go — ’nuff said.