i love the internet, architecture, business, design, politics, the arts, technology and music. above all though, i just like solving interesting problems. what about you?Tumblr (3.0; @johnndege)http://johnndege.com/<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kyzknvqOGL1qzp5uuo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>new york times feature on graduating from college dorm style living to a proper well designed residence. i just like the new design. nice art on walls and good sofas. still, the whole think cost $8,000. style isn’t cheap (most of the time).</p>http://johnndege.com/post/435473462http://johnndege.com/post/435473462Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:16:43 +0000<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky9lc2bDZx1qzp5uuo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>almost bought these today</p>http://johnndege.com/post/405619310http://johnndege.com/post/405619310Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:33:38 +0000<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky9l5qURGW1qzp5uuo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>likin this look. lovin my fashion these days</p>http://johnndege.com/post/405612778http://johnndege.com/post/405612778Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:29:50 +0000<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_krxuhfDDkr1qzp5uuo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>amazing set of plays at the tricycle theatre, kilburn, london. seriously <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/oct/18/tricycle-not-black-and-white">“seize the day”</a> is the best play I’ve seen!</p>http://johnndege.com/post/220363677http://johnndege.com/post/220363677Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:58:26 +0100<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kqwlgseLFM1qzn6tmo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>I just kind of like it!</p> <p><a href="http://davemorin.tumblr.com/post/212324038/superamit-tedr-mikehudack-blakeley" target="_blank">davemorin</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://superamit.tumblr.com/post/212132782/tedr-mikehudack-blakeley-stellavista" target="_blank">superamit</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://tedr.tumblr.com/post/212123329/mikehudack-blakeley-stellavista-letters" target="_blank">tedr</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://mhudack.com/post/211960369/blakeley-stellavista-letters-of-note" target="_blank">mikehudack</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://blakeley.tumblr.com/post/211957312/stellavista-letters-of-note-how-artists" target="_blank">blakeley</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://stellavista.tumblr.com/post/202806444/letters-of-note" target="_blank">stellavista</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.lettersofnote.com/" target="_blank">letters of note</a></p> <p><b> </b></p> </blockquote> <p>How artists conduct business.</p> </blockquote> </blockquote> <p>Mick is my new business hero. In this terse letter he congratulates his coworker, he sets expectations, he advises w/o directing and takes the pitfalls of the compensation issue entirely off the table. I sincerely aspire to lead/create/live like this.</p> </blockquote> <p>Read it twice.</p> </blockquote> </blockquote>http://johnndege.com/post/212793775http://johnndege.com/post/212793775Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:50:39 +0100<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kouoipe3oj1qzp5uuo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>looking forward to this…</p>http://johnndege.com/post/169943694http://johnndege.com/post/169943694Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:16:00 +0100<p>out of boredom…</p> <ol> <li>sonar 2009 - my first time in espana - pure hedonism</li> <li>picking stocks - go emerald energy!</li> <li>making new friends - i’ve made a fair few who i expect i will be good friends in the future</li> <li>telling people i went to the gym - now i no longer go!</li> <li>visiting kenya</li> </ol> <p>I wonder what the rest of the year will bring…</p>http://johnndege.com/post/161601469http://johnndege.com/post/161601469Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:09:12 +0100<p>i read a lot. most of it is probably junk and completely useless but I take it all in. for me the accumulation of knowledge (typically through reading) is something i almost can’t do without. unlike most people i know who read a lot, I rarely read fiction. in fact, i can probably count the number of fictional books i’ve read from start to finish on a pair of hands. fiction never quite interested me, it just felt somewhat useless. non-fiction attracted me beause it could be applied to everyday life. it could be a book on economic history or a random article in vanity fair. somewhere, sometime that knowledge will be of some use.</p> <p>my relationship with reading takes me on some wild rides. on saturday afternoon when i am lazying about at home after a late night, i can’t bare to watch tv or a film. again, mostly fictional it seems like a waste of time. espeically considering i would likely have wasted a lot of money the night previous and felt the need to make up for it. so on starurday afternoon your likely to find me spening hours trawling through wikipedia and assorted articles. i can start something mundane like different sorts of fabrics and end up on an article about ancient mesopotamia. its pretty fascinating and thats how i learn about pretty interesting things.</p> <p>this all probably makes me a bit of a nerd, what the hell! reading is fun</p>http://johnndege.com/post/161597018http://johnndege.com/post/161597018Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:01:44 +0100<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdioh8pqa0mHqv6rFfo1_250.png"/><br/><br/><p>one of my fav features of iphone 3.0 software</p>http://johnndege.com/post/120148997http://johnndege.com/post/120148997Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:28:58 +0100<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdio00th5oUXaBU6svo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>just bought this shirt - cant wait to rock it</p>http://johnndege.com/post/113916632http://johnndege.com/post/113916632Wed, 27 May 2009 21:15:51 +0100<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdinna5qlwF1oj5BDeo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>i built this site a long time ago - i’ve kind of let it fester - not sure what to do with it</p>http://johnndege.com/post/109672265http://johnndege.com/post/109672265Mon, 18 May 2009 23:16:19 +0100<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdin33acl6aDyHQTfqo1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>love this film!</p>http://johnndege.com/post/103418071http://johnndege.com/post/103418071Mon, 04 May 2009 20:08:33 +0100<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdin333viha0Kq3eQEo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>i have a love hate relationship with apple - but love that they take the time to find out if i had a good experience at the apple store the other day. i gladly filled in the short survey and i am pretty certain they will listen to the feedback. this is just good business.</p>http://johnndege.com/post/103416949http://johnndege.com/post/103416949Mon, 04 May 2009 20:03:00 +0100<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdimhixdppfnE6dNpCo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>sophie tmac and per</p>http://johnndege.com/post/97836264http://johnndege.com/post/97836264Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:55:19 +0100<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdim5oa56hXJRYeiZno1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>dlr graffiti</p>http://johnndege.com/post/95123265http://johnndege.com/post/95123265Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:52:04 +0100<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://johnndege.com/swf/audio_player.swf?audio_file=http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/94971470/sERBRhTdim4z43fjRna2zZNZ&color=FFFFFF" height="27" width="207" quality="best"></embed><br/><br/><p>Back soon!</p>http://johnndege.com/post/94971470http://johnndege.com/post/94971470Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:06:46 +0100<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/sERBRhTdik7zf1m2uebkXozEo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>courtesy of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregscargill/">short sharp shot</a></p>http://johnndege.com/post/80239728http://johnndege.com/post/80239728Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:19:00 +0000<p>it looks like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2009/02/Its_time_to_transfer_power_from_the_central_state_to_local_people.aspx">david cameron</a> has “stolen” <a target="_blank" href="http://johnndege.com/post/76492488/a-better-democracy">my democratisation/localisation policy idea</a>. now unfortunately i don’t have the time to fastidiously examine the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/Returning%20Power%20to%20Local%20Communities.ashx?dl=true">32 page policy doc </a>(including references). however, i have taken a quick flick through and see some promise - despite some eye brow raising omissions…<br/><br/><b>one thing i like</b> - a series of referenda to establish city mayors in 12 of the UK’s largest cities. to quote the doc an elected mayor “can provide the city with strong leadership. Individual leadership of these councils can benefit local citizens by improving the clarity of municipal decision-making and enhancing the prestige of their city.” (my own bolding).  though, lets hope these mayors get decent powers.<br/><br/><b>one thing i dislike</b> - this is more an omission - there is no commitment to pay local councillors a decent salary. if i remember correctly the average age of a councillor is in the 60s. few people can afford the time to do the job because it takes 1 full day a week plus evenings (on 5k a year). what full time working person can really afford to do that? the only councillors i’ve met or heard of are those who are retired, university students or working part time. It would be good if councillors were paid something around 15,000 for 3 days work a week. Then they could work elsewhere part time if they wished. The current system excludes countless people from taking the job as a serious primary earner and its hurting our democracy.</p> <p>* brownie points for the policy doc - it had a decent amount of data backing up its assertions.</p>http://johnndege.com/post/79206867http://johnndege.com/post/79206867Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:36:00 +0000<p>successful technology firms are built on data. analysing customer habits, tracking user engagement and making informed decisions based on a-political results. it’s almost a given now amongst web startups (at least) that success is the result of your product - and how do you know do you know where to shift that product? simple - you listen to your users. that feedback may be whispered in the numbers of your analytics page or capitalized and exclamated in an angry email: this is the precious “data” of which i speak.<br/><br/>and yet i rarely see public policy mirroring real data - and if it does claim to be grounded in “research” the fingerprints of manipulation and statistical manufacturing are all over the evidence. A simple example is crime in Newark, New Jersey - USA. Most of the city’s dreadful street murders took place at night and yet the proportion of police officers on night duty was abysmally low. when the new mayor was elected he put more policemen on night duty. surprise surprise - the murder rate fell substantially. it is simple “common sense” approaches like these which rely on data which can greatly improve the lives of everyone on this planet. naturally the police officers forced to do night duty were not too happy - but was this not a fair price to pay for public safety and peace of mind? I think so.<br/><br/>all of this is not to say that politics could ever be a game of mathematical calculation, numbers and spreadsheets. everything in society, yes everything is political. “Man is by nature a political animal” - Aristotle. However, there are spheres of overwhelming consensus, methodological norms and general feelings of fairness that can bring us to a-political-ish data from which we can begin our charge of reform. <br/><br/>you may fear that i am supporting some sort of technocracy. a crazy idea where civil servants beaver about hatching crcakpot formulaes to fix potholes in gateshead. hardly.  <br/><br/>i simply think that though politics must start with values - it should be driven by realities. it should be driven by data.</p>http://johnndege.com/post/78916980http://johnndege.com/post/78916980Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:40:07 +0000<p>it started with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/03/george-monbiot-on-tax">this</a> - then <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/06/response-hazel-blears-politics-monbiot">this</a> - then <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/hazel-blears-george-monbiot">that</a>. TKO</p>http://johnndege.com/post/77306897http://johnndege.com/post/77306897Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:11:01 +0000