Copyright Math Baffles String Theorists
Hilariously brilliant presentation on the major flaws in the calculated statistics presented by the motion picture industry.
Weekly Digest – 2012-03-12
- My favorite Ted talk on education, creativity & dance. http://t.co/W4zg9qRO #
- How to keep up on dozens (or hundreds) of blogs? For those that do not know what an "RSS reader" is. http://t.co/oKzBGrMq #
- I will now have nightmares of the cheetah robot chasing me. http://t.co/W1dbWfMP #
- Agency pitch processes don't accurately portray a real relationship. http://t.co/m6HtQvRr #
- Just now, I had the opportunity to shake hands with Chewbacca. The hand enveloped mine, making my day. #torontocomicon thx @TheWookieeRoars #
- EVer sit at your computer, at work, and think, "I'm dying here." Then you probably are. http://t.co/hMTp0tfZ #
- Is the code in your game not perfect? Well then it might just get a lot worse really quickly. http://t.co/XAN9L67V #
- And Youtube's variable playback speed…… dissapeared? Not before I took a screencap. Yes, I be geeking out. http://t.co/GDggU2wT #
- Wait! When did Youtube add double, 1/2 or 1/4 playback speeds??? Vimeo has some work to do. Btw, here's a cyber-girl! http://t.co/AtChkNM6 #
- I don't typically post game news, but here come some, starting with DOOM 4 screenshots: http://t.co/IAA8WJcp #
- "Politics is not changing. Government is changing." I dream and take action for a future like this. http://t.co/lbjufZVP #
- Saw this Biolite campfire video years back. On their homepage they have MANY updates to an already amazing product. http://t.co/pAWzyjq0 #
- Better check for a pulse if you're not inspired by these photos in Smithsonian's 9th Annnual contest. http://t.co/EdqnUQYx #
- My new favorite online dictionary/thesaurus. Powerful search capabilities and more results. http://t.co/4ETMr6rW #
- Sad about lack of tactile response on your tablet? Senseg is bringing touch feedback to touchscreens. [via Rick Jayx] : http://is.gd/nRqWOY #
- Mapping out our internal living systems in the Human Atlas Project [thx Lisa Griffiths] : http://t.co/ub2GG0Y1 #
- Validates being up till 2am playing with aqua in CSS. RT @winsontang Yes, Color Matters [Infographic] http://t.co/1c7mbe6D #
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
If you enjoyed that, I highly recommend watching his TED talk, which has some a wonderful tale of a misunderstood artist who has become enormously successful, and demonstrates his sense of humor. Feeling impatient? Then skip to 15:00 on the TED Talk.
Thanks to Rick Jayx for reminding me of Ken Robinson.
Youtube’s Got Variable Playback Speed?
You can play at normal, double, 1.5, 1/2 or 1/4 speed. No joke. Check this link and see if it works for you.
But now that I’ve shared the link, the feature isn’t there anymore. WTF? Ok, I’m doing a video screen capture while this is still up. This is a pretty cool feature and a VERY cool feature for those that like to dissect visual effects in film OR for all the animators who are studying animation. Dear Vimeo, take note.
*UPDATE*
The Speed option is back again. It’s probably because I was jumping between browsers. I don’t see it in Firefox, but I do see it in Chrome (Chromium). I really am digging this (obviously). It seems that it’s an HTML5 feature that you have to opt in to.
Bob Flewelling: My Friend and Mentor
I met Bob over 10 years ago, during a very challenging time in my life, while I was unemployed and still studying for a new career in 3D animation. This good friend and mentor has provided me with many tools and advice that have been invaluable over the last decade. Some of the tools he referred me to include Many Lives, Many Masters, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, and (a favourite of mine) How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-Discovery by Lawrence Leshan.
I recently came across a list with a few other points of interest that he recommended to check out. I am digitizing them here for future reference.
- Global Consiousness Project at Princeton University
- The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepok Chopera
- A Road Less Traveled (with a summary available here)
- The Secret Life of the Brain (PBS documentary series)
- Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama by Daniel Goleman
Thanks again Bob. I hope to see you again soon.
Robbie Manson: The Mindful Designer
Another great talk on web design, that feels like it shifts a little outside of the World Wide Web. What I learned:
- We are more efficient when designing away from the computer.
- One of the techniques he uses is called “6-Up Sketching”, where you set a timer for 5 minutes and try to quickly come up with 6 unique concepts. After the 5 minutes is up, you and your team try to find the strong and weak points in each concept.
- Intent has to be balanced with Experimentation. As slick as CSS is, it’s not flexible and an accident usually results in an error, not an innovation.
My notepad…
Weekly Digest – 2012-03-05
- Bouncing at my desk, whilst coding, due to tunes featured in this minimal mix by @ewerx. It's stuck on repeat. http://t.co/TtV01qwy #
- Japanese artist creates massive mazes of salt to honor sister's death. – http://t.co/FfvV5TAi #
- “Disappointment—sometimes years and years of it—is the price we pay to do powerful creative work.
http://t.co/IVzxmddQ” (via @scottlondon) # - Wacom Intuos5 w/ multi-touch. It's not just the product presentations that makes them industry leaders. http://t.co/HpetjfJs #
- "There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It's all learned.." – Bruce Ediger #quote #
- Free / Open Source alternatives? Here's a list of 20 popular applications. Using half of these almost daily. http://t.co/4ilEdQuB #
- Scribble some doodles in Flash: http://t.co/mgGM3nS6 #
- MyPaint – Who'd expect free and <10MB to be so powerful and responsive. My Cintiq hasn't seen this much use in a while. http://t.co/NppZ8cKW #
Wilson Miner – When We Build
Wilson Miner‘s talk is about the power in design, interface and simplicity. He realizes that a website is not just a website.
I discovered this talk at a perfect time in my computing career. From I.T. support and development, to animation and visual effects… and now I am getting a little deeper into web development. I’m happy to see that the current world of web development is quite different from the world I turned my back on during the late 90s.
One of my favorite quotes that Wilson presents in this talk is from Alistair Smith.
“At times of change, the learners are the ones who will inherit the world, while the knowers will be beautifully prepared for a world which no longer exists.”
Thank you Wilson Miner. Your talk was a quick n cheap therapy session that I needed to experience.
Legos for CSS Design Patterns
Thanks to Natalie Downe‘s Practical Maintainable CSS slideshow for this inspirational idea of using Legos for design grids for laying out web pages.
