lifeasdaddy

Getty Images' Moodstream: pictures, video and music as you like it.

I was interested to see what some of the world's best photographers caught from the Olympics opening ceremony last night, and day One of competition today so I stopped by at Getty Images to check on their stable's pics.  And I discovered something new and interesting.

They've set up this thing called Moodstream which provides an automated slideshow of photographs, video clips set to music mined from their enormous back catalogue and you can use sliders to choose the stuff displayed according to your mood.  Or the mood you want to create.  There's slidebars to adjust for Happy/Sad, Calm/Lively, Humorous/Serious, Nostalgic/Contemporary, Warm/Cool.

There's a button to select any one of the scenes shown to your own preset mood board - and of course, all images and video area vailable for instant purchase under rights managed provision.

Coolness factor is off the chart.

And the Olympics?  Well, for the latest stuff check out the Getty Images Sports blog here.  And the Getty Images Editorial Sports Events Feed here.

And the Getty Images standard Sports page here.

ADDED:

And from The Big Picture blog, the best of the best of pics about the Opening Ceremony.  Plenty of symmetry.  Perhaps the most charming is the last pic in the series, not even taken near the stadium.

mucking around with the template again

My blog provider, typepad, are offering some limited edition blog templates provided by HP.

I thought I'd try them out, but as with most of the typepad templates, I'm finding the font size too small.

But because it's from HP - well, I just love the brand!

[ One of the consequences is that the layout of old blog posts gets a bit higgledy piggledy.  See how you go ....]

lifeasdaddy - Redesigning the blog's colours, style and fonts.

A few days ago I decided to test out some different looks for this blog page.  I experimented with making a custom designed page within the confines of the Typepad regime, but finally decided  that getting the colours right was a bit hard for me - although I saved my custom designed template in the system.  So I chose one of the pre-designed template themes.  It looked good, although the font size , especially in the right sidebar was quite small and thus difficult to read.  I did that on Sunday or Monday.  Then last night the blog, of its own volition, reverted to the saved custom template. 

I'm doing more experimentation today, so let's see how we go.

lifeasdaddy - Today's podcast review.

What did two-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion George Foreman dream about when he was a boy?

"...I always dreamed about not a car, not a beautiful home, but enough to eat." 

In this podcast from NPR and the Kitchen Sisters, poor people talk about how the George Foreman Grill is their kitchen.  Often in low-rent unfurnished rooms, they bu a Foreman Grill to cook on.

Then the Kitchen Sisters interview Foreman, and his delight in finding out his grill is helping poor people is just so plain to hear.

Here's the iTunes link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=156274133&s=143441&i=12732622

Apart from that I've been listening to some pretty good dance music on iTunes this afternoon.

Great tribal house from DJ Anngelica:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=188541623&s=143441&i=13327675

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=188541623&s=143441&i=14008465

And from Radio 538 Dance Department in the Netherlands:

with Paul van Dyk:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=80488920&s=143441&i=18826452

with Scumfrog:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=80488920&s=143441&i=18627023

lifeasdaddy - Recent podcasts I recommend.

I don't really get much time for podcast listening - but here's a roundup of my recent recommendations:

Sound Opinions (Chicago Public Radio) Talks about cover songs.  A couple of very knowledgeable rock music journalists sample and discuss great covers over the past 40 years.  Also has input from phone in listeners.  Includes a lengthy discussion of Isaac Hayes' cover of "By The Time I Get To Pheonix" - which they mention is one of the composer Jimmy Webb's faves.  The Hayes version runs to 19 minutes, and it's briefly sampled on the podcast.

Barnes & Noble's Meet the Writers: Tony Dungy.  Although I do have a long term interest in American sports, I'd never heard of Dungy until I read about his book Quiet Strength on Joe Wikert's blog.  Even just hearing Dungy interviewed here is inspiring - overcoming racism, career setbacks and the death of his son - let alone reading the book.  He does seem quiet.  Not bombastic, not full of himself, although rightly proud of his achievements on and off the gridiron.

HBR Ideacast interview with veteran silicon valley forecaster Paul Saffo.  Saffo talks about his recent Harvard Business Review article about the Six rules for effective forecasting.  He talks plenty of commonsense, which is all too often uncommon in forecasting, and gives some examples of trends and products which seem to the layperson (like me) to have come out of nowhere, but which he indicates were actually quite predictable.  His article is one of the few available free in the current July-August 2007 issue on the HBR website, provided you agree to the normal terms of use.  See here.

HBR Ideacast Preparing for a Pandemic - Interview with Dr. Leonard Marcus and Dr. Barry Dorn.  To paraphrase their findings on preparedness for a Flu Pandemic, the businesses which will be most prepared will be those who recognise their interdependent nature, and who open up the planning to their partners in business.

HBR Ideacast 34 Competing on Analytics - Interview with Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris.  It's about the numbers.  How to gain a competitive advantage by drilling into the numbers.  Gives some very tasty examples particularly from the insurance industry. 

Times Online: Making globalisation work.  Prof. Joseph Stiglitz talks about globalisation.  Points out the winners, the losers, how it works, where it works well and not, where it is unfair, and his prescription to fix it.  Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel for economics in 2001.

NPR Driveway Moments:  Are computer keyboards dishwasher safe?  Answer seems to be yes, but do not try this at home.

NPR Story Corps: I haven't seen you in 40 years. Ralph Tremonte and Donald Weiss spent their childhoods together in a psychiatric institution.  Here they are reunited 40 years later in New York.  They have a good catch up.  You need to listen closely to capture both sides of the conversation.  Surprisingly uplifting.

There.  That's plenty to listen to.

lifeasdaddy - 55 essential articles every blogger should read.

Matt Huggins has scoured the 'net to bring you these.

[ tip from Joe Wikert ]

lifeasdaddy - Military History Carnival #2

Victoria's Cross? has put up the Military History Carnival #2, and lifeasdaddy has won a guernsey.  Mind you, I did have to nominate the blog post about Midget Submarines and Max Shean myself.

It's generating some click-through traffic to that blog post.  Great!

lifeasdaddy - Wichita Rutherford: Bluegrass evangelist and a big fat laugh.

Checking out the iTunes USA store, I saw in the out of left field section the "5 minutes with Wichita" series.

Wichita Rutherford interviews Bluegrass stars, and also answers questions from listeners, such as  a request to expain the Theory of Relativity.

His blog is here, and you'll see that his bluegrass band Van Heffer specialises in bluegrass covers of Ozzy Osbourne songs.

Check out the iTunes podcasts here.

You don't have to know much about bluegrass to enjoy it.  I don't, and I did.

lifeasdaddy - A google ad for a blog about neuroscience

I use gmail, Google's email service.  I find it really useful - the contra for using the "free" service is that Google ads appear in the sidebar, and the topics of the ads are somewhat related to the content of the email.

I received a reply email from someone yesterday in which we both discussed a blog. Hence the Google ads in the sidebar were somewhat related to blogs or blogging. 

One ad was this:

Discover a smarter neuron
and an unusual take on how memory works. At a new neuroscience blog.
nine-radical.blogspot.com

I thought, "That's interesting.  An individual blogger has coughed up money for a Google Ad.  I'll click through."

Here's the blog called REWIRING NEUROSCIENCE.

Apparently it's a blog by John Harris, and was established in September 2005.  His blogger profile has counted 1,899 views up to this moment.

I wonder how much he paid for the advert?

I wonder how much it has boosted his traffic?

I wonder who John Harris is?

The blog is quite detailed, and to my layman's eye (pun intended Mr. Harris) it seems like the blogger knows whereof he writes.

Here's the blog home page, which is impressive, and has some great photographs.

Maybe the author is this Dr. John Harris of the University of Nottingham.

Maybe the author is this Professor John Harris of The Institute of Neuroscience (Newcastle University)

Maybe the author is this "veteran medical device entrepreneur" John Harris of Arboretum Ventures.  Hmmm.  Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Stanford and MBA from Kellogg.  Yes, you seem like the most likely John Harris to be web savvy and experimenting on a nexus between Google Ads and blogging.  Here's his picture and another bio.

Well, if he's doing google ads and blogging, my bet is he's got a google alert on some of the words in this blog post, which means .... he's reading this.

Please make yourself known to us Mr. Harris!

lifeasdaddy - Golf podcasts, and a golf blog

I've recently rekindled my interest in golf.  I played lots of golf as a young man, but not so much in the past 15 years.

Now there's the internet and podcasts and blogs to add to all the old things which spur the obsession that is golf.

I was listening to some outstanding podcasts from GolfSmarter, hosted by Fred Greene.  They are so professionally produced, they are a welcome change from many of the amatuerish podcasts of all genres out there.

It's possible to subscribe to the podcasts via iTunes, or to listen to the podcasts directly from the Golfsmarter podcasts website. 

Since I can't link directly to the podcast (neither on the website nor on iTumes), if you want to listen to the ones I'm about to review, then go to the website, and scroll down to the podcast episode's date and click to listen.:

Apr 20 2006 - "Once you're on the course" with PGA director of instruction Joe Sievers. :

Here Sievers talks about mental attitude on the golf course, and the importance of playing the shot you are about to play.  Not the last shot, not the next shot, just the one you are about to play.  Sort of the power of positive thinking for golfers.  He explains it better than I can.  That's why the podcast takes about 20 minutes.

Apr 04 2006 - Jim Fazio, legendary course designer, on The Country Club of Oxford, a new project. :

Fazio has been designing golf courses for more than 40 years, and here talks about how he does it, his philosophy behind his designs and the practical aspects of building a new course, or redesigning an old one.  There's also hints for golfers on how to play his courses, and these probably apply to lots of other designers' courses too.  For reasons which are explained on the podcast, he also talks at length about The Country Club of Oxford, one of his most recent works.

Oct 31 2006 - David Leadbetter Academy Senior Instructor Aaron Fagan. :

Fagan talks about his experience working with Leadbetter, swing aids, and what to do during the months when golf cannot be played in cold (freezing) climates such as the northern U.S.

Dec 12 2006 - Playing the Top 100 courses in the world.:

This was probably the most enjoyable and fascinating of the podcasts.  It's an interview with a guy, who remains anonymous, who has made it his quest to play all 100 of the best golf courses in the world as rated on a particular list.  He writes his blog anonymously so that his frank opinions will not embarrass members who may have invited him to play a particular course as their guest.  He talks in the interview at length about how he came to start his mission, and about his favorite courses amongst the 100.  Expecially interesting are his hints about how to gain access to ultra private clubs.  The sense of irony and humour which is apparent from my subsequent reading of his blog also comes out in the interview, as is the sense of humour of the interviewer, Fred Greene.  It's easy for the listener to relate to the blogger, as he is of intermediate standard as a golfer, having a 16 handicap.

Here's his blog:

Playing the top 100 Courses in the World.

"One of the characteristics you need to play the top 100 golf courses in the world is an open mind, a great sense of curiosity and a love of golf, travel and adventure. It is in this spirit that I am always looking for new ways to get onto golf courses I haven't yet played."

and here's a  course he raves about in the odcast interview, one of his favourites, Sand Hills Golf Club.

ADDED:  For more on the Sand Hills Golf Club, see this analysis from golfclubatlas.com.  After noting how the course designers and builders have improved on nature, scroll to the bottom of that page for a stunning, nay shocking, photograph of a man belittled by the sand bunker in which he is standing.