…from TEDx Sydney, got picked up by the TEDx global site.

Links: blog.tedx.com and at tedxsydney.com.

Thanks to everyone at TEDx Sydney for letting me be part of an amazing event. The organization of the event was terrific, the production value and support absolutely sumptuous (the Sydney Opera House!).

Edwina Throsby (my producer) and I had been bouncing ideas and drafts around for a couple of months; Gretel Killeen joined Edwina in knocking the talk into shape during rehearsals.

My thanks to David Broockman and Chris Skovron for letting me use their same-sex marriage example.

I also need to thank Margaret Stewart (herself a “big” TED veteran) (and check this out) and family, from whom I appropriated the “It’s Your Duty To Hack” sign appearing at the end of the talk.

And this is too beautiful not to link to (bump it up to HD, full-screen etc):

At the risk of being a little self-serving…

7 political scientists were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year. 4 of them (er, us) got their degrees from Rochester in the early to mid 1990s: Daniel, John, me and Alastair.

And 3 of the 4 Rochester people were born/raised outside of the US.

Oh, Meliora… And congratulations.

At the risk of flattering Brooks, his rant re Nate and probabilities did remind me of Edmund Burke howling at the moon:

…the age of chivalry is gone.

That of sophisters, economists; and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.

from Reflections on the Revolution in France.

My mate Mal Enright collects ephmera, particularly of the printed sort (a kind of “urban archaeology“).

And in SoCal, its all about parking. Future generations will wonder “what the hell was it with them and the parking?”

On summer spells back in Australia I like to practice the wonderful art of bod-surfing, sometimes augmented by a handboard. I own a beautiful hand-crafted wooden handboard called a Pod, that I bought in Sydney many moons ago (at either Gowings or the Remo General Store, I forget).

Anyway, we just got back from a very relaxing week in Southern California, staying with friends in Venice. I had two awesome days of body-surfing and boogie-boarding, and got inspired to go chasing a new Pod.

To my delight, you can still get them, over the web. The maker, Shane Vassallo, even emailed me after I placed my order:

Thanks Simon,

Yes I only handcraft what I have time over winter, however this is the first batch I have made in over 5-6 years, I have selected a nice board for you good weight around 420 grams and nice grain, board number 519

Best regards

These things are wicked when you pick up the right kind of wave. Here is some YouTube video (not featuring a Pod), with some nice waves off La Jolla (very body-surf friendly breaks there).

“And now for something completely different…”

Click on the thumbnail for higher-res JPG.

If I was in town, I’d definitely go to this event, titled “Contesting America” at USSC, USydney on May 3 (um, today, in Sydney).

…looked like this where we were, in Brisbane.

Sunshine, swimming, wide shady verandas, Poinciana (Delonix regia), Frangipani (Plumeria), afternoon thunderstorms…

Set of 12 shots here.

Having summer coincide with the holidays is bliss, and one of the things about Australia we miss the most.

Zombie Gunship on the iPad:

“Summer school”, in the Southern hemisphere sense of “summer”. Hooray.

I’m offering a “Practical Introduction to Bayesian Statistical Modeling” in Sao Paulo, Feb 6-10, 2012. Further details here.