Chris Andersen, who is the current editor of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail is proposing a new law he calls The Andersen Switch:
In the analog-to-digital conversion things that are paid will become free and vice versa.
This is a modern twist on the Negroponte switch
I have to say, this makes sense to me as I sit here and read the Sunday papers online for free and watch cricket on pay-TV.
Every now and then Wellington turns on a stunning day, and we all forget about how much the weather bothers us. There have been a couple like that this week.
I took this photo on Wednesday from Frank Kitts park looking out across the harbour, which was like a sheet of glass. In the foreground is the Len Lye Water Whirler (this press release has more details, and more photos showing how it moves). This is one of a growing number of wicked pieces of sculpture and public art around town – mostly the work of the the Wellington Sculpture Trust.
:-)
Last weekend I finally managed to get out on an Americas Cup boat. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since we came back to NZ, right about the time of the last Cup event in Auckland.
The boats are run by Sail NZ. They are old Americas Cup boats from previous regattas, so it’s pretty authentic. I was in NZL-41 which in a former life was the Japanese entry in the Cup in San Diego in 1995.
During summer they do a 2 hr sail in the mornings and a 3 hr match-race, with two boats, in the afternoon. If you are at all competitive I recommend the match-race! You can either get stuck in and help with the grinding and hauling sails etc or you can sit back and enjoy the ride – whatever works for you. Although, as we discovered, these boats were never designed for comfort and can get a little wet. I was right into it, and had pretty sore arms and shoulders the next day for my troubles. At times the two boats got pretty close, and these are big powerful yachts, so it was quite exciting.
For the record: we won the start and lead the whole way, but in the end only won by a few seconds. The biggest drama was after the race finished, when we had some problems getting the sail down. I was down the hatch and had to quickly jump out of the way when the sail decided it didn’t want to be put away.
Good times! :-)
