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Swiftsure Yacht Race 2011

2011.05.30
Other Stuff
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For me Swiftsure began on the week before as I scrambled to get all the gear together for the race. A life jacket with a harness, a tether, as well as a water activated light attached to my life jacket. Lots of little things which all make lots of sense, but were unexpected when I excitedly signed up for the race the month before. With all my gear in my duffel bag, I boarded Big Ben the night before the race to avoid Tour de Victoria road closures that would make it difficult to get to the boat on time in the morning.  Captain Jim McLaughlin (of the Oak Bay Sailing School)and most of the other 6 members slept on board the 50’ Benetau Oceanis that night.

Everyone was up by 7am, and after a light breakfast we had a brief discussion about how we would start the race, and who would be responsible for which tasks. Jim II was charged with setting up a Helm and Navigation rotation for our crew of 8: one hour on navigation, followed by one hour on the helm.  This meant that everyone would be able to get some sleep during the night if the race went long.  With a forecast of winds of 10-20 knots, there was some talk of getting home for a late dinner that night, but when we motored out of the Victoria harbour at 8:30am, winds were light and stayed light as we arrived at the start line just off Clover Point.

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Why Do We Get Fat?

2011.01.29
Health, Other Stuff
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I’ve been hearing lots about Gary Taubes’ “Why We Get Fat” book. In it he argues that the calories-in/calories-out model is wrong, and that a low carb, moderate fat diet is good. Here’s an insightful critique of the main assertions of Mr. Taubes’ book at Science Based Medicine: http://j.mp/gCBhDz

The bottom line from Science Based Medicine:

“Rather than jumping on the low-carb bandwagon before his ideas are properly tested, the precautionary principle suggests that it might be more reasonable to follow a moderate diet like the Mediterranean diet (or to follow Michael Pollan‘s stunningly simple advice to ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’), to limit ‘empty calories’from simple carbohydrates like sugar, to eat a variety of vegetables and fruits, to choose low calorie density foods that are more filling, to limit meat intake, to limit salt, and to keep looking for behavioral and environmental ways to change our calories-in/calories-out balance.”

Good advice that I’m going to try to follow… although some of those empty calories (especially in chocolate form) are so difficult not to give into every now and again!

Money Does Not Motivate Knowledge Workers. What Does?

2010.09.17
education, Other Stuff, Work
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Dan Pink gives an excellent 10 minute talk about what motivates people in their jobs, with an animator brings the highlights to life as he talks.  Here’s my summary for those not patient enough to watch the video:

  • For manual jobs, more money = higher performance.
  • For knowledge workers, once they have enough money not to worry about money anymore, more money = lower performance.
  • So what motivates knowledge workers then? Autonomy (or self direction), Mastery (getting better at what you do) & Purpose (does what you’re doing make a difference?)

It’s a great video, I highly recommend watching it!

Who knew that Lada Gaga was a Librarian!

2010.05.29
education, Other Stuff
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I work in a law library, but I can quite imagine our librarians doing a remix of a Lady Gaga song called “Catalog” (aka Poker Face).  You really have to be up on your library terminology to get what the reworked lyrics are saying.  The students and librarians at the University of Washington Information School did a great job!  Enjoy!

Your Digital Legacy and the Unthinkable

2010.03.22
Family, Other Stuff, Work
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Like flossing your teeth, keeping track of your all your user accounts, passwords and digital assets is not easy to remember to do.  So why is it important to keep an organized record of information like this, when you can simply keep it all in your head?  Because if you get hit by a bus tomorrow, you want someone close to you to be able to access all this information in order to wind up your affairs and pass along your digital legacy to people who are important to you.

What digital assests are we talking about?  Things like:

  • Online Account Information: Facebook, Blog’s, websites, Email, and Shopping sites.
  • Hardware: including computers, thumb drives, backup drives and DVD’s… Any hardware that you have personal data stored on.

What got me thinking about this?  I saw a thought provoking article on the American Bar Association’s web site, called Estate Planning for your Digital Assets, by Dennis Kennedy.  Here are 3 important steps taken out of his somewhat lengthy article:

Step 1. Inventory Your Digital Assets: After the inventory is complete, put the list (including user names and passwords) in a secure place, possibly in a safety deposit box along with your will.
Step 2. Identify Appropriate Help: Let one or more people know about your inventory, so they know it exists and where to look for it when it will be needed.
Step 3. Provide Instructions:  You may want friends on social networks like Facebook or Twitter to be notified of your passing.  Make sure you’ve provided a message to post (along with the passwords you’ve already written down). You may want to close up your blog with a parting message, or pass along specific information to individuals (like photos or journals).

Google Responds to Privacy Concerns [humor]

2010.03.08
Google, Other Stuff
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I saw a great faux news article on the Onion News Network titled, “Google Responds to Privacy Concerns With Unsettlingly Specific Apology“.  For starters the article is very funny.  What makes it even better, is that it addresses problems that Google will need to address in the not to distant future.

We know that their motto is “Do no Evil”, but now that they are a public company, their only real duty as a corporation is to enhance shareholder value.  If down the road Google falls on leaner times, and they have to choose between enhancing shareholder value and protecting the public’s privacy, I’m not sure how well our privacy will be protected.  I hope that they’ll do the right thing, but without strong regulation and threat of serious penalties, I’m not sure that who ever is in charge of running Google at that point in time will do the right thing.

Here’s a couple of great lines from the article:

Responding to recent public outcries over its handling of private data, search giant Google offered a wide-ranging and eerily well-informed apology to its millions of users Monday.

“We would like to extend our deepest apologies to each and every one of you,” announced CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking from the company’s Googleplex headquarters. “Clearly there have been some privacy concerns as of late, and judging by some of the search terms we’ve seen, along with the tens of thousands of personal e-mail exchanges and Google Chat conversations we’ve carefully examined, it looks as though it might be a while before we regain your trust.”

Google expressed regret to some of its third-generation Irish-American users on Smithwood between Barlow and Lake.

Added Schmidt, “Whether you’re Michael Paulson who lives at 3425 Longview Terrace and makes $86,400 a year, or Jessica Goldblatt from Lynnwood, WA, who already has well-established trust issues, we at Google would just like to say how very, truly sorry we are.”

-http://www.theonion.com/content/news/google_responds_to_privacy

Shopping in Stores, but Purchasing Online… and Saving Lots of Money

2010.01.07
iPhone, Other Stuff, WebApps
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Twice in the past two weeks, I’ve gone to stores in order to purchase specific items, but was been shocked at how high the in store prices were.  Both times I quickly pulled out my iPhone and checked the price of the item I needed to purchase at Amazon.ca, and then purchased it online while still in the store.

On my first shopping trip I was looking for toner for my Lexmark 250DN.  At Staples, the toner I needed cost $150!  Can you believe that!  I only paid $250 for the printer, and now they want to charge me $150 for the toner.  A quick check at Amazon.ca showed the exact same toner costing $105.  I ended up saving $45 dollars. If I had just purchased it directly from Amazon in the first place, I would have saved  another $5 or more in gas for the trip to the store.

The second “in store, online purchase” incident took place last night.  Our son had asked us to purchase Assassin’s Creed 2 for the xBox 360 for him.  At EB Games in our local shopping mall, they were asking $70 for the game.  My iPhone informed me that Amazon.ca was selling the game for $57.  The kicker was that they didn’t even have the game in stock, so I simply purchased it from Amazon.ca as we walked away from the store.  I later learned that if you purchased the game from the EB Games online store you would only have to pay $60 (plus shipping… no shipping charges with the Amazon purchase).

New iPhone programs are making this type of comparison shopping easier and easier. RedLaser for example lets you scan bar codes and look up pricing (american pricing only for the time being).  SnapTell is another program that allows you to take pictures of products and get Amazon.com pricing for them, along with product reviews.  The product review can be very helpful, especially if you are not very familiar with the product you are trying to purchase.

There is real value in being able to go to a store and consult with someone about the purchase you are going to make.  There is also real value in being able to take something home right a way, if you need it in a hurry.  If I’m not in a hurry, and I feel that the price difference is too great, I for one am not afraid to walk away from a store and make my purchase online.

Easy, Fun, Online Animation for your next presentation: GoAnimate.com

2010.01.06
Other Stuff, WebApps
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If you’d like to create some fun graphics or animations for your next presentation, or would simply like a distraction as you ease back into work after the Holidays, why not give GoAnimate a try.  From their website:

GoAnimate.com is an entertainment website that enables the simple creation of unique computer animated stories, satires and sentiments that can be shared with the entire online community.

Historically, the creation of animation required specific skills, limiting those who can express their creativity. We designed the Go!Animate application to allow users to create animations without drawing talent or a technical understanding of advanced software such as Flash. The site provides users with a library of interesting characters, backgrounds, props, sound effects and music for use in creating their own unique animations. Creators can customize their animations with a number of tools and features that allow them to create truly unique works of expression.

Enjoy!

A wallet to love: sometimes smaller is better…

2009.10.21
Other Stuff
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I saw a great article on lifehacker.com about a combination money clip, and credit card holder.  I wish I’d seen this last week so I could get one for my birthday!

It cost $20 on Amazon.com, and can hold a fairly good wad of cash (up to 30 bills), plus up to 10 credit cards (5 on the credit card side and up to 5 on the cash side).  Here are some bullet points from their Amazon.com ad:

  • Polished Stainless Steel
  • Double-sided
  • Securely holds up to 5 cards on the credit card side
  • Can hold up to 5 additional cards on the money clip side
  • Ultra-thin and light weight
  • Personalize your Smart Money Clip with engraving

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