Thorium Remix 2009
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Environment, thorium on 2009-11-15
Update: Further trimmed video’s length to 16 minutes! That’s as brief as I can possibly make it.
Kirk Sorensen’s Google Tech Talk “Energy from Thorium” made a big impression on me. But when I recommended it to others, the typical response was “it’s 82 minutes long”. So I shortened it. In fact, I combined 3 Google Tech Talks on Thorium into first a single 25 minute summary (below), and now a 16 minute summary (above).
If you are care about climate change, energy independence or nuclear fission byproducts (some take thousands of years to decay), then please check this out. The liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a fascinating concept, and watching a remix may be the fastest way to get up to speed. Prefer reading copy? Chemical & Engineering News just posted an excellent Thorium overview.
197 minutes of Google Tech Talks were reviewed and compressed to make this video. The video quality is what it is because it is all second generation YouTube content. Should anyone knowledgeable about LFTR pay a visit to Calgary (or Edmonton), I’ll be happy to record a lecture on the subject, and provide a sharper summary video.
Canada’s oil sands may represent the most likely scenario for LFTR adoption in Canada. Regardless of the energy source used to extract oil from bitumen, Alberta will be responsible for emitting a lot of CO2 as oil sands development continues. That appears politically inevitable. The resource is in the ground, we’re going to dig it up. Hopefully it will proceed as slowly as possible (as the bitumen will only increase in value over time), and as efficiently as possible.
LFTR R&D might be only considered “Oil Sands R&D” in the short term. But if it enables Canada to expand our CANDU reactor line to include liquid-fluoride thorium reactors, we wouldn’t just have better energy options at home, but more reactor options for export.
With that in mind, I created a MP3 audio-only version (6 MB), and an iPhone/iPod friendly MPEG-4 version (115 MB).
Those alternate formats are the 25 minute version, not 16 minute version. If you want to take a stab at creating a still shorter version (I think a video needs to be under 8 minutes to go viral), a high quality MPEG-4 version of the 16 minute remix is right here (89 MB). Giv’er.
2011-10-21 Update:
THORIUM REMIX 2011 is now complete. This is my recommended video resource for learning about the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (a type of Thorium Molten Salt Reactor). It begins with a brief summary comparing LFTR to Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR).
Chaordix Promo Video on Crowdsourcing
Posted by gordonmcdowell in startups on 2009-11-12
I’ve created a corporate video for Calgary based Chaordix which briefly describes crowdsourcing.
[flashvideo file=http://blip.tv/file/get/Gordonmcdowell-ChaordixV55Cbr2800462.flv image=http://gordonmcdowell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/chaordix-logo-515×290.gif width=515 height=310 duration=127 /]
The creation of this video was an example of client fast feedback loops enabled by posting iterations of a video to a private video host. While working on each iteration of the video, the previous iteration was uploading to Blip.TV.
Prior to upgrading to a 64-bit OS (Win7x64), there was a noticeable hit in PC performance while simultaneously rendering and editing. But now with 7 GB RAM, and 4 CPU, I can edit, render (and of course upload) at the same time. Good workflow.
DemoCampCalgary15 Coverage
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Calgary, startups on 2009-10-29
DemoCampCalgary is where programmers and startups can expose their work to Calgarians, and put out an open call for various forms of assistance. Feedback? Beta testers? Looking for seed capital? A DemoCamp is just what the doctor ordered!
(Doctor Gordon James McDowell not a licensed physician, but can still fix your stiff spine with a quick twis… oh sorry. Can’t feel your legs? I’d better get you to a hospital.)
Head to BarCampCalgary.com to find out when & where the next BarCamp is going down in Calgary.
YoctoRide previewed at DemoCampCalgary
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Calgary, iPhone on 2009-10-29
Calgary’s 15th DemoCamp was particularly fun for me, as it was the first time I’ve demonstrated software at one. Nervous? Check. Stressed? Check. Capable of completing app store submission process before beginning the demo… not so much. I somehow overlooked the step of aquiring a distribution provisioning profile, and kept wondering why Xcode would not accept my .cer (it was looking for .mobileprovision).
Yesterday, I submitted yoctoRide. Had I known that app titles can be submitted in advance of code (I’d heard about iPhone app name squatting but never read the details), I’d have claimed the app name long ago and not worried about it. To claim an app name, all you need is a description and icon. I bet Apple has some entertaining stats about who’s claiming what.
If you want a heads-up when yoctoPlay is released, email me and I’ll sent you a single email once a functional carpooling tool is available on iTunes. I’m extremely interested in Calgarians who are willing to carpool via their iPhones. Because this software will have no value without the network effect (utility of yoctoRide is zero if only one person is running it), I’ll be heavily promoting it in Calgary where I can monitor usage and drive people around myself if necessary. (Our car isn’t that fuel efficient, so its a loss-leader both economically and environmentally.)
One point I failed to make at DemoCamp: Passenger safety will be assisted by passengers snapping a photo before they enter any vehicle. That’s a date-stamped, geo-tagged image of car and driver automatically uploaded to yoctoRide’s server.
To see all the DemoCampCalgary presentations, head to DemoCampCalgary.com where all the presentations are indexed.
yoctoRide post zero
Posted by gordonmcdowell in iPhone, yoctoRide on 2009-10-23
Wondering why yoctoPlay.com and yoctoRide.com are currently directed here?
It is the company name I’ll be writing small apps under. Milliplay. Centiplay. Nanoplay. All taken. Fortunately, the metric prefix gods are generous gods.
YoctoRide will be Demonstrated at Calgary DemoCamp on 2009-10-27 (Oct 27th).
What is yoctoRide? Exactly.
iPhone Banking & Contracts for Canadians
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Canada, iPhone on 2009-09-29
In May 2009, Gazzard and Richerd assisted MJ teach a weekend-long iPhone development course. At the time of the lecture, I had only just bought a MacBook and hadn’t started any iPhone development. In fact, I hadn’t even set up my iTunes app store publishing contracts yet.
Which made the following portions of MJ’s iPhone lecture particularly useful to me: How to complete your contracts and receive an American Employee Identification Number (EIN). If you’re Canadian, and just on the cusp of starting iPhone development, I’d recommend giving the following video a look.
Beefart & Cheenkaw
Posted by gordonmcdowell in YouTube on 2009-09-28
If you see one movie this year, but District 9 is no longer playing in your neighborhood, be sure to check out BEEFART & CHEENKAW – The Motion Picture.
Blaise Kolodychuk is a renaissance man. Musician. Director. Father. Master of photostatic copiers. He can peer into the multiverse, and see what might of been, or what may yet be. His reports from beyond are dismissed the mainstream press as “pure fiction”. And yet…
Unexplained flying objects are spotted every day in the north Calgary. Occasionally half eaten human remains are found in Fish Creek. TO THIS VERY DAY, no one knows what lurks at the bottom of Lake Bonavista. Only that it feeds… at night.
As you read this, you may find yourself trembling. Fear not! YouTube videos rarely kill. Courage, and a finger hovering nervously over your computer’s power button, will see you safely though the mind of Blaise Kolodychuk.
Fare thee well.
Calgary’s Low Carbon Future – The Summit
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Alberta, Calgary, Canada, Environment, Politics on 2009-09-14
I haven’t had too many opportunities to stream live video since WireCast days at Cambrian House, so Calgary’s Carbon Summit was to be a live test of my new configuration:
- Dual core MacBook
- Wireless microphones feeding both the live stream, and HDV capture
- 3G iPhone with tethering capabilities (and my strong desire to max out ROGERS 6 GB data plan)
UStream.TV had broadcast flawlessly from my house the night before. What could go wrong? Well apparently SAIT’s WiFi was blocking ports to which the UStream responded by crashing the browser. Any browser.
Fortunately I had a ROGERS 6 GB data plan, an iPhone 3G, and a deep burning desire to use up as much bandwidth as possible. Do you know how HARD it is to eat up 6 GB with an iPhone? Finding a reasonably priced ROGERS data plan is IMPOSSIBLE, so I took SAIT’s blocked ports as a blessing in disguise. 753,100 KB later, and UStream.TV had rebroadcast the summit.
I’ve since had a chance to upload HDV coverage of the event to YouTube, and also to Internet Archive. The most viewer-friendly copy can be found at R4NT.com entitled “Calgary’s Low Carbon Future”, it is cut down from 101 to 56 minutes and follows the narrative woven by Skid Crease.
Outcomes
The summit adds value to other City of Calgary initiatives including the development of a Community Greenhouse Gas Plan, The City Manager’s Office Sustainable Development Strategy and the World Energy Cities Partnership. This is an opportunity to develop a multi-stakeholder developed and ratified action plan to address future energy challenges.
Bios for keynote speakers can be found here. Rob Macintosh’s presentation is also available as an isolated YouTube video, and downloadable MPEG-4 from Internet Archive.
Calgary Film Racing 2009 – Do It Yourself
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Calgary on 2009-08-13
We won a slew of Film Racing awards! The contest was in June, and I’d assumed we’d won nothing (or we’d have heard about it by now). So this is out of the blue and awesome.
Team BRING-ME-THE-HEAD-OF-DON-HOLMSTEN consists of: Wil Knoll, Rachel Gertz, Sarah Blue and myself. Blaise Kolodychuk and Ben Blue worked off-location creating music. And Travis Gertz got us to the church on time.
The award winning short “Do It Yourself”, is about the emotional baggage behind the construction of a glass display cabinet. The cabinet, complete with fake mementos from the character’s life still resides in Wil’s apartment. The psychologists I’ve spoken to reassure me that while this is unusual, it is no cause for concern.
Our team name is due to an unfortunate event involving ex-team member Don Holmsten and “The Mixer”. The Mixer’s operator said “Keep your head, and arms, inside the Mixer at all times.” But Don Holmsten was a DAAAREDEVIL, leaning out saying “Hey everybody, Look at me! Look at me!”
- Best Film of the Calgary Film Race 2009
- Best Direction (me!)
- Best Leading Actor (Wil!)
- Best Leading Actress (Rachel!)
- Best Acting Ensemble
- Best Writing (Wil!)
- Best Editing (me!)
The Film Racing experience was a lot of fun, and we really enjoyed watching the other submissions. Most of them were crazy funny, and the wide variety of approaches use accommodate “a promise and a screwdriver” made each screening a new surprise. Head to the Calgary Film Racing 2009 Awards page to check out the other submissions.
Protospace vs YouTube Thumbnails
Posted by gordonmcdowell in Calgary, Hacking, SONY VEGAS, YouTube on 2009-08-08
So I’m adding a logo to Calgary’s Protospace teaser video, and none of the YouTube thumbnails look particularly appealing. I don’t want a split-screen of a hacker. I want a Protospace logo dag-nab-it!
At some point in early 2009, YouTube stopped grabbing thumbnails from 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 positions in submitted videos. Thumbnails were being abused, with brief images of pornography and misleading images placed at 1/4 1/2 3/4 locations in uploaded videos.
I can’t define pornography, but I know it when I see it. And Protospace logo ain’t no pornography! The Protospace teaser is rendered at 29.970 fps (NTSC drop-frame). I added a frame counter to the video to locate the new thumbnail locations…
And confirmed what I’d heard when Googling the subject… the thumbnail locations are now pseudo-random!
Due to the “random” part of the thumbnail grabbing, it took me a few tries before a logo lined up with a thumbnail, but I did manage it…
…and then due to a medical condition the doctors refer to as “borderline stupid curiosity” I began adding frame counts to other videos, uploading them, and documenting YouTube’s 3 thumbnail locations for each.
Notice that the TN (ThumbNail) locations are constant for extremely short videos, and become more pseudo-random as the video length increases. I wouldn’t be surprised if an exact formula could be nailed down, but I don’t see it.
If you can solve the pattern, or have more data points you’d like to contribute then please ping me. I can either add them by hand, or share editing rights to this spreadsheet. I suspect any pattern may have something to do with MPEG-4 and keyframes. Or maybe Dwipal Desai injected a bit of the pseudo into the random because he enjoys the thought of thumbnail seekers endlessly spinning their wheels… heck it’s what I’d do if I were him!