clock … watching time, the only true currency

I’ve used a webcam since 2003, and I was excited about it then for family communication. Today’s New York Times article “Grandma’s on the Computer Screen” talks about the growing trend among extended families to use webcams to stay in touch, especially for grandparents and their grandchildren. Video calling, long anticipated by science fiction, is [...]

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I enjoyed The Guardian’s coverage of the chronophage. “Beware the time-eater: Cambridge University’s monstrous new clock includes a marvelous video. The official University of Cambridge video from the inventor and maker, Dr. John C. Taylor, provides more of the history and details. Neal Stephenson must be pleased that a new mechanical clock was introduced the [...]

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Khoi Vinh watches another generation fall under Tintin’s spell. Been there, and also waiting for the movie. Some of the language in these comic albums isn’t PC anymore (e.g., “dirty gypsies”), but Tintin is never one to stand for injustice. Google News finally answers some of publishers’ questions, and promises more information in the future. [...]

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My sister Mary sits in with The Loose Marbles, a New Orleans street band. That’s her on the accordion, on the right. Original location, if the embed causes any problems. More about the Loose Marbles in The New Yorker from May 2007.

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This weekend, I read Happy Blogiversary, the Wall Street Journal’s review of 10 years of blogging. I found it first online, pointed to by Scott Karp because Dick Costolo cited Publishing 2.0 as one of his favorites. Skimming it over the weekend, via satellite broadband, the video vignettes embedded in the piece wouldn’t play…the player [...]

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Another experiment with iStopMotion, this time with the kids, and we have two (very) short films to show for it on YouTube: Race car goes fast (stop-motion) and Batman gets in the Batmobile. Each one is two seconds long. It was hard to keep their attention this long. Remember, 24 frames/second. What did help was [...]

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Fascinating 22 minute video of statistician Peter Donnelly at TED explaining the impact of our general inability to interpret uncertainty. Logic doesn’t work here. I got his first example wrong, as he says most do. What about you?

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Earlier this week, I played around with iStopMotion, from Boinx Software. Very simple and easy. Creating a stop-motion film entertains, although it can be a bit tedious, which is why I stopped at 3 seconds for this first effort. That’s 72 frames. Batgirl skid is where I posted the final result, although the boy tells [...]

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