Enjoy the photos from Ski Cam Man! I had a great time.

• Review and Download City of the Lakes Loppet
  
• View City of the Lakes Slideshow (full screen sized view)
• More Ski Cam Man Photos (and camera details)

And me ... Ski Cam Man ... the Northstar Nerd!

City of Lakes Skijoring Loppet and Junior Loppet from Scott Brown on Vimeo.

For next weekend's City of the Lakes I think I'll either have the camera point backwards, or take some videos! It might be nice to see a few faces in the photos. I'm still experimenting. Below the slide show, I've also included two of my favorite photos from an aide station stop!

slideshow Marine O'Brien 25K Classic on PhotoPeach

And the two promised aide station photos. Note the warm water on its way through the air! I missed the volunteer!  :-) (Click upon any photo for a full sized view)

And finally 2 photos .. not taken by me, but one is of me!

I did find it difficult to track individual pages on sites where a RSS feed already exists. After posting a question of the Google Forum, I was referred to the Change Detection Service.

I'm already using the new capability to track changes on the following web sites ... none of which have RSS:

• Academic Earth (engineering courses)
• Berkeley Wireless Research
• SkinnySki.Com (Nordic Skiing!)
• Stanford Seminars
• Siemens Control Products
• UC San Diego Wireless
• Virginia Tech Wireless

Here is an example from my Google Reader account. Click to view full sized.

Click upon the Garmin data to view full sized.

• Google
• Harlem
• Microsoft
• the Northstar Nerd's neighborhood (me!)
• the White House
• Wayzata (upscale Minneapolis suburb)

Here is the NY Time's review of Mama Mia. I chose this movie as it has no heavy message ... just fun! Click upon any image to view it full sized.

Quote from NY Time's Review of Mama Mia:

"Even those of us who habitually favor serious, austere, aesthetically correct drinks — single-malt Scotch, green tea, pomegranate juice, whatever — may occasionally indulge in a frivolous cocktail bedecked with fruit and umbrellas and served in a bulbous, sugar-rimmed glass. The next morning’s headache seems a small price to pay for the rush of cheap liquor and uninhibited conviviality. As long as you don’t operate heavy machinery or wake up in the wrong bed, or operate heavy machinery in the wrong bed, what’s the harm?"

Thus, what could be more interesting that to compare how the neighborhoods around the White House, Google, Microsoft, my own neighborhood (inner ring suburb) and a ritzy suburb (Wayzata) compared via the Mamma Mia Factor?!

I'll let you examine the Mamma Mia Factor results and ask your own heavy questions, but consider ... why does Mamma Mia rank 18th in Google's neighborhood, and not ever show up in the White House's top 100?! Please note that when using the NY Times tool, one may examine by zip code any of the top one hundred videos rated via Netflix.

A low score indicates high popularity. Click upon any image to view full sized.

Google - Mamma Mia score: 18

Harlem - Mamma Mia score: 34

Microsoft - Mamma Mia score: 21

Northstar Nerd (New Hope, Minnesota) - Mamma Mia score: 33

Wayzata, Minnesota (swank Minneapolis suburb) - Mamma Mia score: 21

the White House - Mamma Mia score: null

• The Birkie is America's premier cross-country skiing marathon
• O'Reilly Ignite is a conference that sets the tone for innovation

The similarity rests with the Northstar Nerd. I'm working with some folks in Minnesota to host a local version of Global Ignite Week in early March. Even if your geographic area does not hold a local conference, you need to learn about Ignite. We always challenge people to "think outside the box". Consider for a moment the number of boring presentations you've watched in your life. Ignite requires that no presentation last more than 5 minutes, and each slide MUST advance every 15 seconds. Thus, the probability of Death by Powerpoint is significantly reduced. At the end of five minutes a presentation is over. Presenters are yanked off the stage!

If a message can not be delivered in five minutes, is the message really understandable? Do your corporate presentations really need 10 point font bullets? Would you be willing to hold an internal meeting based upon this premise (5 minutes | 15 seconds per slide)? These are intriguing questions. I've attended many unconferences. There is no reason corporate presentations could not follow some of the innovations found via Ignite and Barcamps.

Okay, if you're wondering how the American Birkebeiner relates to Ignite, I decided to create my own Ignite style of presentation. For better or worse, I give you Skiing Outside the Tracks (YouTube Link). Innovation in the guise of the Birkie Tour. Given the fact that most Nordic skiers will never actually win a race, the Birkebeiner has created a new kind of "marathon", the Birkie Tour. The idea seems simple; innovation often is!

If you like the concept of Ignite, and can't attend .. you may wish to watch past presentations via Ignite's YouTube Channel. The upcoming event in March will also be webcast.  You may even learn how to be a better Scrabble player!

"The speed at which any given scientific discipline advances will depend on how well its researchers collaborate with one another, and with technologists, in areas of eScience such as databases, workflow management, visualization, and cloud computing technologies."

As many of you know, I manage internal collaboration projects for my company. My download is in progress right now ... I have my reading cut out for me!

You will also find a link on the Microsoft Research site to their technical collaboration projects.

Twin Cities Championships on PhotoPeach