Christian Nally's News - experiment, learn, apply, move on

Ocean Racing meets Reality TV meets Disney

nally — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:06:24 -0400

I think the only Disney film I've ever looked forward to seeing was Bambi, for it's June 20, 1975 release. I was four years old.

Well, I've got another to add to the list: Morning Light.

I'm not a movie-ista by any stretch, but I can imagine this film going reasonably well, or horribly wrong. Got any predictions?

How to use DeepRockDrive and it's unique Show Player

nally — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:10:54 -0400

Burt, (DeepRockDrive's director, not the Ernie's buddy), has built a killer description video on how to use the DeepRockDrive Player.

The coolness of the player is an important part of the experience, because these shows are not just about watching an act... they're about interacting with the band, and with the fans who are there.

Check it out!

DeepRockDrive's interactive live concerts from DeepRockDrive on Vimeo.

Gulf Islands windspeed map is sailors delight

nally — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:10:21 -0400

Following my nose around the internet a little, I've discovered a rather cool utility that gives you up to the 'several minutes ago' weather info for wide regions in southern BC, thanks to a grid of sensors hosted at the region's schools.

Here are the links to get you started.

For all you British Columbia sailors out there, if you're interested in seeing the very latest data (the update time is something like every 10 minutes). I don't think it would be that hard to receive this onto your cell phone in the middle of the race (iPhone, &c.). That's a hot tip for the upcoming 'Round Salt Spring Race.

Perhaps this'll help me improve my "last finisher" result in the recent Salt Spring Island "No Flying Sails" race. :-)

Unless all the other racers read this blog, and bring their cell phones for wind maps.

Lili and the Land of Zi nomination at Cartoons on the Bay

nally — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:21:10 -0400

Lili and the Land of Zi is an up and coming educational cartoon that makes learning Chinese Characters fun. Aimed at the very young, adults might be surprised how much they enjoy learning this way. Robert Duncan and his team are really taking this concept to a remarkable level.

Based on its strong potential, the pilot has won them a nomination at Italy's Cartoons on the Bay film festival.

As soon as the trailer is available for public consumption I'll be sure to post about it. In the meantime, I'm ready to learn my next character after 'Tree'.

Chiodos on DeepRockDrive - Mar 28th, 2008 6 pm PDT

nally — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:35:28 -0400

One thing that working on DeepRockDrive has done for me, is to bring me back into the world of up-and-coming music. Present die-hard Chiodos fans will forgive me for calling them up-and-coming (*ahem* Billboard #5 album *cough*), but I smell a band on a threshold and I'm hoping DeepRockDrive gets a chance to help out along the way.

The BEST live show I've ever seen was put on by Panic at the Disco! The raw talent and spectacle of their show blew me away. Chiodos sounds to my ears to be a heavier/harsher sounding sister to Panic.

For those who haven't yet had a listen, check out the myspace link above and for those into watching a live streaming show on the 'net, check out the DeepRockDrive Chiodos show page.

(And vote for my Panic Request while you're there!)

Sailng as a better shipping method for stocked goods

nally — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:38:01 -0500

For many hundreds of years, goods were transported around the globe on sailing ships.

But with both environmental and financial pressure on our consumption of fossil fuels, finding niche applications for wind powered transport is turning us towards a world where "everything old is new again".

Today I collect a couple of stories that have crossed my screen in the last little while.

Wine improves with age, so why bother wasting energy on hydrodynamic friction? With good planning, we can wait for its arrival. That's the logic behind this modern day sailing as shipping endeavor.

But let's assume that you need to use your current fleet of oil sucking speedsters? Is there any hope? Why certainly, good reader, just grab an admittedly high tech freighter kite. One of the innovations here is to capture winds much higher above the water than those grabbed by mast held sails. Wind speed is higher up there. Engineers expect to save as much as 35% of fuel costs this way.

Go Sailing Go! Could it be that we could support Galiano's new coffee roasting outfit with occasional trips from from our distributors down south? Sign me up!

My '50 Ways' mp3 as a test Sprout

nally — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:51:49 -0500

Here's a quick test of the Sprout Widget System.

OpenID

nally — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:41:37 -0500

To celebrate the opening of this blog to public comments, I have but one simple question for the masses of folks reading this blog. ;-) Which OpenID service provider will you choose for your main on-line identities? Why?

Is it that the OpenID provider you use will say as much about you as the shirts you choose to wear?

Please let me know your reasoning in the comments section below.

We Must All Nurture Creativity

nally — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:38:41 -0500

My own education halted in high school, even though it went on for another dozen years or so. Certainly much of that problem was my fault, I had a serious attitude problem. :-)

Lately I've been contemplating re-starting my education by becoming a volunteer teacher/co-ordinator of a course based loosely around the International Baccalaureate's Theory of Knowledge.

What joy then, when I was put onto
the following video by Ken Robinson about creativity, "ADHD", and the effect of the school system.

Zero Inbox, Gmail

nally — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:07:59 -0500

Someone tried to tell me over a year ago that I needed to have an empty inbox, and it's taken me until now to hear him.

Yes I realize that I'm -very- late to the party here, but I thought I'd record how I did this in an effort to allow any gmail user that finds this page to save an hour as they embark on the path to righteous disciplined daily activity, and finally put e-mail in its rightful place.

I've been inspired by Merlin Mann's google talk on having nothing in your inbox. I learned a lot about myself while watching it and this hour I'm on a self improvement kick. Most of you won't notice the difference. ;-)

Once you'd been convinced that you need to zero your inbox, Mann suggests doing it now, so you can "stop sucking". You get to put your current inbox into a single folder ('label' in gmail speak). It feels great. It has the advantage of not needing to declare e-mail bankruptcy and you get to put off the task of going through all your current (sullied) inbox.

Steps:

1) Label all your inbox as DMZ. This gives you a way to view your as-yet-un-DMZed emails as a group. Do this in gmail by:

create a label called DMZ
go to "Show search options"
select searching only within the Inbox
click 'Search Email'
click 'Select All'

Gmail will respond by telling you that it's selected 20 e-mails. If you're anything like me you've got more than 20 in the inbox. (ahem, 5555 conversations?!) In order to select all those emails, it'll also present you with a link right in the statement about having selected 20 that you can select them all. Do it.

check under "More actions..." for the action to label these as DMZ

2) Archive your DMZ posts, using a similar click path as above.

3) Schedule some time each day to go through your DMZ e-mails, and throw them through your new list of actions to take with e-mails.

Delete (or Archive)
Delegate
Respond
Defer
Do

Gmail's 'archive' buttons distributed liberally around the app are the way to do the first option listed above, and I look forward to clicking Archive early and often. I'm also excited at the prospect of being able to invert my inbox view and have it be in chronological order, rather than most recent at the top and trailing off toward barely memorable history.

Great... and like so many days gone by, today is a new day.