Umamiblog

Oslo Operahuset

Standard for me, I’m going to miss the Olympics. I love all the big events. Endless games or races to watch at all hours of the day and the Beeb probably do the best coverage online in the world.

My favourite moment from Sochi has to be the race that led to this photo finish:

The guy in red on the right is what you’re typically going to look like crossing the finish line. The three guys on the left look rather different, from superman on top to the attempt at splits on the bottom.

If you can, watch the BBC version. Their commentators are hilarious.

If that doesn’t work, maybe try this post at Mashable, video at the bottom.

The ski and snowboard cross were awesome events. Couldn’t get enough, especially with the BBC commentators. Those two were insanely great, even if they did draw in the odd complaint (or 300).

Ah well, not long now until the World Cup.

Dominic Rushe at The Guardian quoting an unnamed Silicon Valley source:

Probably five people are going to be rich beyond belief, the rest are going to be rich and there’s an admin assistant who right now is picking out the colour of her Lamborghini.

A rather staggering deal by Facebook to purchase WhatsApp for USD$19 billion. I think they’ve earned that valuation, and have closed a deal at the right time. Facebook would have been feeling pressured in this space.

On a personal level, I love WhatsApp. It totally changed how often I keep in touch with my geographically dispersed family. More than email or social networks ever did. I’m a little nervous how this will play out. Hopefully Facebook subscribe to “if it ain’t broke…”

Guardian/PA feed:

The Ethiopian great, 40, has been enlisted to take a loaded men’s elite field, including debutant Mo Farah, to the 30 kilometres mark at world-record speed on 13 April.

The Mo-bot, Wilson Kipsang, Kiprotich and others paced by Gebrselassie… it’s going to be an uhh-mazing marathon.

I’d love to see all these guys in the flesh and on the day, but marathons are one of those sports where TV coverage is far superior. At least compared to schlepping around London with thousands of other spectators only to see these guys fly past in an instant while they grind out 3 minute k’s.

Dubai, UAE

The Guardian’s Ben Child reports:

Harrison Ford is apparently in early talks to return as the replicant nemesis in Scott’s forthcoming followup to his 1982 sci-fi classic. If the prediction turns out to be true, it would be even more of a shock than the news in March last year that the veteran British film-maker was to shoot a new Blade Runner film.

Please please please not suck.

Stephen Franks on a book review of The City That Became Safe:

One year I noticed a peak in the Central Police district homicide figures (Wanganui, Manawatu, Hawkes Bay) and had a statistician friend check for me – that district did indeed have a higher murder rate than New York.

While purely subjective, I often feel safer in London than I did in NZ. Heather Mac Donald’s book review here.

NZ Legislation shifts file-sharing from bittorrent to tunnels:

The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. Legislation will never be able to keep up with technical innovation.

What happens when you change the law and the market can’t/won’t/isn’t offering an easier solution.

Self-determination for New Zealand is not a choice, it’s a reality. No one is going to look after us.

- Lloyd Morrison. RIP.

TNW UK reports:

UK mobile operator Three helped its customers utilise more than 80 terabytes of mobile data on New Year’s Eve, recording a 600% increase on figures from the year before

The thing is, I’d love it if my own mobile data usage had increased 600% year on year. But no, I still have the same 1GB-sized quota that I had the year before…

Matt, at TVHE:

Does the US have a marginally functional government?

We already know they don’t have a fully functional government, or a reasonably functional government. But we are waiting to see if the government really exists at all, and is able to muster itself together enough to avoid accidentally defaulting on debt and starting a new financial crisis.

I’m a little late to this nugget but what a great question. (Happy to see he’s writing again.)

DHH, on LinkedIn stock:

So they want you to pay $85-92 per share for a company that posted 9 cents per share in earnings last year (or put another way, value a company with $18 million in profits at $8 billion). Heh.

Heh indeed. At least they’re actually making a profit I guess.