Category: miscellaneous

online video quality comparison – test on your computer

On By Rick McIn miscellaneous, product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Warren sent me a page where you can compare 8 different free video platforms.

Life Goggles online video sharing quality comparison

Quality of streamed video is not good. More important to me is that it WORKS on all computers, all the time.

I normally use YouTube which streams even over some dial-up lines. Google Video is similar but with slightly inferior interface and fewer videos to choose from.

I actually first posted video to Vimeo. But it still has a weird progress bar obscuring my vision on my computer.

I expected not to like the Microsoft product — SoapBox — and didn’t. It was worst of the eight on my Mac Powerbook G4. Sound and video choppy.

Unless I find a compelling reason to switch, I’ll stick with YouTube.

Le Halloween est Mort

On By Rick McIn miscellaneous, traveloguesLeave a comment

Fred, c’est vrai?

… the French, so put off by the war in Iraq and the infestation of McDonalds in their country, have largely declared Halloween dead. The “holiday”…a term hardly foreign to the leisure-loving French, no longer inspires legions of wee French kids to go about knocking on big heavy doors and pleading for candy.

Well, then let them eat cake, I say. But seriously, it seems the decline in interest follows a short-lived popularity, during which the French briefly copied our customs, but then decided that the day way too commercialized and had just enough a whiff of America about it that they decided it was time to commit the holiday to the plastic jack-o-lantern of history.

Le Halloween est Mort – Gadling

» next travelogue post on this trip – Hiking Paria Canyon, Arizona

leaving Las Vegas

On By Rick McIn Cirque du Soleil, hiking, miscellaneous, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

Had a great couple of weeks in Vegas, being trained in the circus arts. Where else to learn but in the true Entertainment Capital of the World?

I saw the 5 awesome Cirque du Soleil shows currently playing and spent time backstage. As well, I observed two auditions and assisted my she-mentor Dana with evaluations.

It was an eye-opener! And a learning experience big-time.

If you want to know more, I post Cirque du Soleil notes on my gymnastics blog.

THANKS Dan & Terri, and Dana & Fred who hosted the perfect houseguest (… at some point in the past. This time it was me eating their food and drinking their booze.)

Next adventure?

Hiking Paria Canyon on the Arizona / Utah border. I plunge into the slot canyon Thursday Oct. 26th.

par.jpg

» next travelogue post on this trip – hiking – survived Paria Canyon

TV – just about every Simpsons – flash video

On By Rick McIn miscellaneousLeave a comment

Just today we had trouble downloading Quicktime format video on-line.

The flash video format (as used by YouTube) is crappy — but at least it works all the time. Test it out by watching 17+ seasons of Simpsons:

TV Links – Simpsons

600,000 dead in Iraq

On By Rick McIn miscellaneousLeave a comment

“The Lancet, a British medical journal, claims over 600,000 people have died in the Iraq war, with the overwhelming majority dying from gunfire.”

Boing Boing: Brit medical journal says Iraq war has killed 600,000 people

Recall that 3000 died at the World Trade Centers.

Does this seem a measured response? Especially considering the people of Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

It’s hard to see any upside in the War on Terror.

the most corrupt nations

On By Rick McIn miscellaneousLeave a comment

unpaidtickets.jpg

“Cultures of Corruption: Evidence From Diplomatic Parking Tickets,” is a paper by Columbia’s Ray Fisman and UC Berkeley’s Edward Miguel that investigates the number of unpaid diplomatic parking tickets by country to formulate an index of each country’s corruption. Diplomats don’t pay parking fines, so the only reason for diplomats to follow the law is conscience and respect for the rule of law.

The worst offenders are the Kuwaitis, whose nine diplomats have racked up 246.2 violations each; then Egypt, with 139.6 violations for 24 diplomats. Canada, Israel, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have no violations at all.

Boing Boing: Unpaid diplomatic parking tickets as index of national corruption
2006