pro·crasti·nation n.
NCIS Season 6 Episode 22 – Legend Part 1
Date:26/05/2009 (Australian air date)
The murder of a marine sends Gibbs and McGee to Los Angeles for a joint investigation with the NCIS office of special projects (OSP).
I like the normal Washington NCIS MTAC Situation Room, but in last nights episode the NCIS Office of Special Projects in Los Angeles has “some super cool toys”; I wouldn’t mind access to this sort of visualisation suite 
Tour of Belgium (Ronde van België) 2009
May 26th – 31st, 2009
The Tour of Belgium (Ronde van België/Tour de Belgique) is a four-day bicycle race which is held annually in Belgium.
It was held annually between 1908 and 1981, except during both world wars. Between 1982 and 1990 several of races were not organised and none at all during the decade 1991 to 2001. From 2002 onwards the race has again become an annual fixture on the cycling calendar.
Following the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005 it looked like the race would merge with the Eneco Tour of Benelux, however this has not happened and it is now one of the UCI Europe Tour competition. [1]
STAGES:
Stage 1: 27-May Tervuren – Tervuren (185,4 km)
Stage 2: 28-May Buggenhout – Knokke-Heist (191,8 km)
Stage 3: 29-May Knokke-Heist – Temse (181,7 km)
Stage 4: 30-May Fléron-Fléron (174,5 km)
Stage 5: 31-May Crono Herzele (16,7 km)
Robbie McEwan @mcewenrobbie is riding the Tour of Belgium this year.
LINKS:
[1] Tour of Belgium [en.wikipedia]
[2] Tempo-Team Ronde van België
[3] 2009 Tour of Belgium – Participants [wielerland.nl VIA Google Translate]
Today I ran into a video codec issue with a MPG file (video:MPGV/audio:a52) will play in VLC. Unfortunately, the client wants to use from Quicktime and the files don’t play in Quicktime/iTunes. It looks like this type of file originates from a Sony HDD Camcorder?
Now the a52 codec is available to manually add onto a Mac but this is not a scalable solution. To solve this issue for our client we run the files via the NCH Prism Video Converter with the decoder options set for “Use FFMPEG first” and we have the files as .mov
Why does a vendor create video files that are so user unfriendly?
Dave Hughes and Kyle Sandilands battle it out live on Twitter: @DHughesy vs @kyleandjackieo
Great viral marketing and poor use of the technology? Only the ratings will tell.
Four documents I have been referring to multiple times over the last month or so. Access to these documents is restricted via subscription/login.
[1] Frederick, Lawrence W. “Recasting the Centralization–Decentralization Debate: Advancing the Innovation Support Cycle” (Research Bulletin, Issue 10). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ECAR/RecastingtheCentralizatio/46731
“There is a deep literature that makes the case that on balance, decentralized approaches are best suited to organizations where innovation is the primary objective, whereas centralization is best where efficiency (capturing economies of scale and scope) is paramount.“
[2] Michael Zastrocky, Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Marti Harris “Technology Adoption in Higher Education: Know Your Businesses” (Industry Research ID: G00152548) GARTNER, 25 October 2007
http://www.gartner.com/resources/152500/152548/technology_adoption_in_highe_152548.pdf
* Take home point is the need for the 3 distinct environments for “Research”, “Teaching and Learning” and “the Business (Administration)”. Any support model needs to allow for these distinctly differing management requirements.
[3] Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Michael Zastrocky, Marti Harris, Nikos Drakos, Whit Andrews, Rita E. Knox, Leslie Fiering, Jim Tully, Claudio Da Rold, Carol Rozwell, Matthew W. Cain, David Gootzit, Ray Valdes “Hype Cycle for Higher Education, 2008″ (Industry Research ID: G00158592) GARTNER, 25 27 June 2008
http://www.gartner.com/resources/158500/158592/hype_cycle_for_higher_educat_158592.pdf
* jump to the figure on page 32. Then step out to the options, which of the items flagged as “less than 2 years” and moving through ‘slope of enlightenment’ to ‘plateau of productivity’ are impacted?
[4] Waters, Ian. “Managing IT Risk in Higher Education: A Methodology” (Research Bulletin, Issue 6). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ECAR/ManagingITRiskinHigherEdu/46431
* a good IT Risk methodology for use within Higher Education
Nightlife talks Social Networks (ABC Radio)
If you like to Tweet on Twitter, or can’t get enough of Facebook then that probably makes you a social networker.Tonight on Nightlife we explore the pluses and minuses of all the different social networks and how they can be useful for business owners and workers. Joining Tony Delroy tonight is Paul Wallbank from PC Rescue and Laurel Papworth.
Thu 29th May 2009 (ABC Radio) Nightlife with Tony Delroy, @paulwallbank and @SilkCharm talk about about Social Network Strategy http://www.abc.net.au/nightlife/ #socialmedia #socialnetworks
Listen to the PodCast available for 1 week from broadcast date.
How people are using Twitter during conferences
How people are using Twitter during conferences (2009-May-28) [APO]
The popularity of microblogging, with special emphasis on twitter, the most famous application of the kind, is growing rapidly. This kind of tools for micro-exchange of information and communication is changing the daily life of knowledgeable worker as well as Internet savvy people.
Peter Costello has voiced his opinion regarding Sol Trujillo’s performance;The only victim here is Telstra’s share price (2009-May-26) [SMH]
… There are times when an outside executive from another country brings valuable change to a corporation: Paul Anderson and Chip Goodyear at BHP or Bob Joss at Westpac spring to mind. But to bring in an outsider to Telstra who had no understanding of the previous life of Telstra as a government monopoly, no appreciation of the sensitivity of the privatisation, no respect for the role of the regulator to promote competition, and no inclination to understand these things, was a big mistake. …
… Trujillo says he changed Australia. Not in the way he thinks. One change is that corporate boards are going to be more wary of overseas appointments in future. Australian executives are as good as any in the world. A chief executive who understands the country and has a long-term interest in its future is a valuable asset for a company in a sensitive sector.
The Telstra directors could not have been surprised things ended the way they did under Trujillo. His previous track record was there for all to see. In my view, the board has a lot of explaining to do. It’s about judgment and performance. It is not about race.
My view is that The Three Amigos is a movie – a story of the minor-talented who are out of their depth. The naming of the Telstra executives was a comment on their skill level in running a Telco and had no relationship to race.
HardTimes :: Illusion
ze frank’s HardTimes :: Illusion.
Be careful it is on the internet!
I’m not the only one; It would appear that others think that Apples security patching timeline leaves a lot to be desired as well.
Six months may seem like a long time to address a particularly dangerous vulnerability, but it’s about par for the course with Apple and its record on patching Java flaws. I have reviewed the last three Java updates that Apple shipped during the past 18 months, and found that Apple patched Java flaws on average about 166 days after Sun had shipped its own patch to fix the same vulnerabilities.
– Apple Slow To Fix Java Flaws (2009-May-22) [Washington Post]
* Follow the #giro chat on Twitter via TweetGrid Search – http://tweetgrid.com/search?q=%23giro
* Giro d’Italia 2009 Live Dashboard [steephill.tv]
Towel Day: A Tribute to Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, I propose that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as “Towel Day”. All Douglas Adams fans are encouraged to carry a towel with them for the day.
So long Douglas, and thanks for all the fish!
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
– HHGTTG, Chapter 3
Video collaboration conference
Integrated and converged video conference systems and how to improve the user experience
Monday 25th May, 2009Sponsored by: Monash University, AARNet and Integrated Vision.
Following highly successful AARNet Roadshows in 2008, Monash University is proud to present the first in the series for 2009. This time with a twist! Monash will be providing a ‘show and tell’ section on the program, where you can view the latest in high-technology meeting rooms.This is a free event designed to stimulate collaborations and the exchange of knowledge. The program includes a range of talks about the next generation videoconferencing and the importance of ‘ease of use’ for users.
Twitter Hash = #vidcollab09
Thursday 21 May, 2009
For over a year, university managements around Victoria have used excuse after excuse to delay negotiating a new collective agreement for staff.
Now they have run out of excuses, and staff have run out of patience.
– NTEU [1]
Union members at the University of Melbourne have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a 24 hour strike to progress the negotiations for a new collective agreement.
For nearly twelve months, Union members have been negotiating with the University senior management to get a new collective agreement – the set of rules that govern your pay and working conditions.
We want real improvements to the professional rights and respect that staff at the University of Melbourne deserve, including:
* Fair salary outcomes for university staff;
* A fair go for casual academic staff, including payment for all marking performed;
* Improved job security for grant funded staff;
* Career paths for sessional academics;
* Increase the time staff can give to each student by reducing excessive workloads for staff;
* A restoration of workplace rights removed by the former government’s regressive higher education laws (known as HEWRRs).Although we have made some progress negotiating with the University, major items remain outstanding. The reasonable outcome for universities in last week’s Federal Budget removes the last excuse for the University to delay.
Show University management that you support your colleagues and the Union.
Union members will be on strike on Thursday 21 May. We are striking for improved conditions and professional respect for you in your workplace. Support your colleagues. The strike action is legally protected for all union members.
– Ted Clark
University of Melbourne NTEU Branch President
[1] http://universitybargaining.com.au/may21/ [May 21 | University Bargaining]
[2] University staff go on strike for a new contract (2009-May-21) [MetBlogs]
[3] Strike threat as uni staff fight for pay rise (2009-May-07) [The Age]
[4] respect-make-your-own [Flickr]
Social Networking As Pedagogy Social nets – a communication tool or a distraction. AV TECHNOLOGY (May 2009)
… On its Web site, GQ has published a slide show of cover sheets that accompanied intelligence updates produced by Rumsfeld’s DOD for Bush. They all feature images of American soldiers in the field, and biblical quotes. It was, apparently, at least partially an attempt to appeal to Bush’s religious belief, but it also made other administration officials quite unhappy, in part because if they ever leaked, the images would bolster the perception, which the administration had been working to counter, that America was fighting a holy war against Islam. …
– Rumsfeld was even worse than you thought (2009-May-18) [Salon]
Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has always answered his detractors by claiming that history will one day judge him kindly. But as he waits for that day, a new group of critics—his administration peers—are suddenly speaking out for the first time. What they’re saying? It isn’t pretty
– AND HE SHALL BE JUDGED (2009-May-) [GQ]
Rabobank’s Pedro Horrillo crashedon the descent of the Culmine di San Pietro and was airlifted to hospital during Stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia;
Rescue workers head down for Pedro Horrillo (Rabobank).
Photo ©: Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.net
The Gully into which Pedro Horrillo (Rabobank) fell.
Photo ©: Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.net
More Stage 8 Photos [cyclingnews.com]
The Ten Minute Quickie [Eltham Little Theatre]
Ten Short Plays of Ten Minutes duration at the Eltham Little Theatre last Saturday night. Ten very different but very interesting plays;
Wendy J. Dunn (Eltham) – ‘Before Dawn Breaks’
Brad Allan (Research) – ‘Act 3, Scene 1′
Rebekah Jennings (NSW) – ‘The Cost of Giving’
Chris Hodson (Ferntree Gully) – ‘Bristling Unrest’
Lynette Williams (Aswood) – ‘Death by Quote’
Suzan Dalziel (Mt Egerton) – ‘Spider’s Legs’
Sam Floyd (ACT) – ‘Imaginery Breakup’
Leigh Dillon (Carnegie) – ‘Chicks are Weird’
Carolyn Eldridge-Alfonzetti (NSW) – ‘Beneath the Flower Show’
Deborah Sheldon (Wantirna) -’ We Have What You Want’
