Rob Masters

h/t to Pamela Smith - a new chapter in the Perth Zoo's great history of species preservation and restoration. Originally shared by null Meet Brutus, one of seven critically endangered Western Ground Parrots who now call Perth Zoo home. With less than 140 of these parrots left in the wild, we hope to give their species a much-needed boost by breeding them - wish us luck! A big thank you to the Department of Parks and Wildlife and Friends of the Western Ground Parrot for their support! (Photo: Jennene Riggs)

For #weeklyphotoproject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  by Thomas Gillingham  Francesco Scaglioni  Week 30: Landscape

via Boing Boing. Now I'm off to get some GF bagels :) http://spring-of-mathematics.tumblr.com/post/91043165514/mathematically-correct-breakfast-how-to-slice-a

For those who don't like the 'Story' format, here's a more conventional look at our long weekend on #rottnestisland .

#WeeklyPhotoProject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  curated by Thomas Gillingham , Maurice Loy  , Samantha OBrien , Navin Upendran , Andrew Dobrucki , Bernhard Rembold , Robyn King , Francesco Scaglioni , ben wong  #WPP2014-Wk26-Shadows Week 26 : Shadows

#WeeklyPhotoProject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  curated by Thomas Gillingham , Maurice Loy  , Samantha OBrien , Navin Upendran , Andrew Dobrucki , Bernhard Rembold , Robyn King , Francesco Scaglioni , ben wong  #WPP2014-Wk23-Silhouettes Week 23 : Silhouettes

#WeeklyPhotoProject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  curated by Thomas Gillingham , Maurice Loy  , Samantha OBrien , Navin Upendran , Andrew Dobrucki , Bernhard Rembold , Robyn King , Francesco Scaglioni , ben wong  #WPP2014-Wk29-GoldenHour Week 29 : The Golden Hour Bathurst Point Lighthouse

#WeeklyPhotoProject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  curated by Thomas Gillingham , Maurice Loy  , Samantha OBrien , Navin Upendran , Andrew Dobrucki , Bernhard Rembold , Robyn King , Francesco Scaglioni , ben wong  #WPP2014-Wk30-Landscape Week 30 : Landscape Because Nothing Says 'Landscape' Like the View From a Lighthouse.

#WeeklyPhotoProject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  curated by Thomas Gillingham , Maurice Loy  , Samantha OBrien , Navin Upendran , Andrew Dobrucki , Bernhard Rembold , Robyn King , Francesco Scaglioni , ben wong  #WPP2014-Wk-S-Curve Week 28 : The S Curve What's Around the Corner?

This last weekend, Alicia Smith and I spent four days on that iconic Summer retreat for sandgropers, #rottnestisland . It is a very different, but still wonderful, place in winter. In fact, I think I prefer it then.

A very unexpected #autoawesome !

A successful weekend's birding! Clockwise from top left: Masked Lapwing, Red Capped Robin, Nankeen Kestrel, White-fronted Chat, Osprey.

West End at Rotto. Totally worth the ride!

Our next adventure begins!

The Dynamic Discs AT&T Stadium event looks like it was a success! They're planning on doing it again next year! http://allthingsdiscgolf.com/jeremy-rusco-disc-golf-experience-success-plans-underway-2015/

h/t to Sebastien Dottin for number 2 of 8. This one had me in stitches! Originally shared by Josh “Wicket” this ones awesome! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-0TEJMJOhk

I have to say I'm super impressed with Weird Al's new launch of his album. I particularly liked this interview with him. He's right on the money with his comments about the changes from MTV to YouTube. From the article: Well, MTV is a completely different animal now, obviously. Back when I was first starting out in the 80s, people watched it for hours on end, and they would memorize every tiny detail of every music video. When I came along and I just tweaked those little video moments, people understood and got the humor immediately. Nowadays, MTV is more of a reality show channel, and I'm not really focused on that, and they're certainly not focused on me. So the internet is the new MTV, at least as far as I'm concerned. http://www.npr.org/2014/07/12/329873481/weird-al-yankovic-on-parody-in-the-age-of-youtube

OK Go are at it again! Originally shared by Courtney King great :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MejbOFk7H6c&feature=share

So we went to a quiz night tonight. 110 tables of 8. $38 tickets. 8 rounds of timed multiple choice questions. And by timed, I mean you got 10 seconds from the end of the reading - and your score depended not only on being right, but on how fast you answered. It was organised by Mix 94.5's breakfast crew as a fundraiser for Telethon, and PMH.  And it was extraordinary fun, even if most of the questions were either sport, pop music, or Telethon history!  The only downside was the sound system, which was very echo-y, but at least the questions also came up on the big screen.  The evening was run at a cracking pace, even with a half hour break in the middle, and the table we were on was awesome. We ended up in 18th place (not bad out of 110), and managed to pick up a couple of minor prizes from one of the raffle-ish competitions. Congratulations to Table 2 (whoever you were) on your win, and also to the major raffle prize winner Chris someoneorother.  A great night out, and we raised ...

Quite a gorgeous work, and a wonderful twist on the pop-up book. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/07/motion-silhouette-an-interactive-shadow-picture-book/

Thanks for the heads up, Alicia Smith! Originally shared by Alicia Smith For Australians who are concerned about the sustainability of our seas. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lionflame.ssguide&hl=en There's an Apple version too, has been for a while, but finally it's come out for Android. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lionflame.ssguide&hl=en

So we had our W.A. Boardgaming Association meet today. Someone decided Hamsterrolle was a good idea. Then this happened...

The latest eBook bundle from the Humble Bundle team is an excellent mix! Originally shared by Humble Bundle Get up to 11 stellar titles from authors like Timothy Zahn and Buzz Aldrin in world of mystery and wonder known as the Humble Sci-Fi eBook Bundle. http://bit.ly/HBScifi Pay what you want for The Healer's War, The Reluctant Swordsman, Freehold, The Time of Dark and Wingman. Those who beat the average price also get Spellsinger, Forge of God, Song of Kali and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Pay $12 or more to get everything plus Encounter with Tiber and Blackcollar.

Cilantro or coriander leaf is arguably the most controversial herb out there, with a sharp divide between the likers and haters. Now we know why! (BTW, I disagree with the boingboing writer's description!)

Cilantro or coriander leaf is arguably the most controversial herb out there, with a sharp divide between the likers and haters. Now we know why!

Mt Eliza Reflections #WeeklyPhotoProject2014  Weekly Photo Project 2014  curated by Thomas Gillingham , Maurice Loy  , Samantha OBrien , Navin Upendran , Andrew Dobrucki , Bernhard Rembold , Robyn King , Francesco Scaglioni , ben wong  #WPP2014-Wk27-Reflections Week 27 : Reflections

An extra-special edition of Caption My Caption  today! Originally shared by Caption My Caption Round 72 With very special Guest Judge, Sauber F1 Team  If you'd like to be notified for each new #CaptionMyCaption round, please leave a comment here ( http://goo.gl/bKXp5Q ) or simply just circle Caption My Caption  Take a look at this image and provide a caption by commenting below, and don't forget to give a +1 to any of the other comments that you find amusing. The winner is the person with the most +1s on their comment. Feel free to +1 and/or share the post itself, if you so choose, just to let me know if you like the image or not and to expand the game just that little bit more. The #CaptionMyCaption  Leaderboard - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jMKaTDyCBiEuC773q4ZfsaeMkeDsNYq0MiKrRen02L8/edit?usp=sharing ( Image via Daily Mail )

Also from the TZ mailing list (talking about how to represent the start of time):  " In the 64-bit realm, we could use the timestamp of the Big Bang, as time stamps before then are physically suspect anyway." and goes on with "A downside of using -436117076640000000 is that we'd need to update that number as we get better estimates of when the Big Bang occurred, but maybe we could consider this to be part of the fun.  After all, if Unix had been developed on a 64-bit machine and had used the Big Bang for the time_t origin, a lot of bugs would have been avoided in the first place...."

So, I'm on the TZ mailling list. "The what?" I hear you ask? It is the mailing list where people discuss and maintain the IANA TZ Database (sometimes called the Olsen TZ Database, after the creator). The TZ Database contains all the world's timezones, and how and when they have changed.  And what they are called.  This last bit always causes some contention, because ... well ... people. And politics. And stuff. Especially 'stuff'. One of the most contentious over the years has been the topic of the Australian timezones. Why? Well, aside from constantly appearing and disappearing daylight savings in various areas, because there was no real agreement. According to some government departments the correct names were (to use the East Coast as an example) EST/EST for Eastern Standard Time/Eastern Summer Time, others said EST/EDT (D for Daylight), still others AEST/AEST (with Australia as a prefix), and even others AEST/AEDT. And all of them said that this was the of...

Wow. This guy actually gets it. And has the clarity of vision to see where it is going. A pity most of his peers will dismiss him. Originally shared by Marcos Raúl Carot Memo form a zillionaire to the others: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html#.U7JMNfmSyL0 http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html#.U7JMNfmSyL0

No doubt preaching the to choir, but still a good reminder. Originally shared by Liz Quilty "Denying mainstream science based on flimsy, invalid, and too-often agenda-driven critiques of science is not skepticism at all. It is contrarianism … or denial." http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-six-most-misused-words-in-science