Da Vinci's genius for real?

According to the young man who wrote this post, Leo's genius has been tested:

Da Vinci the inventor

Pretty cool if true...

Rationalize this!

Tattered Coat is closing down for a while as the author finishes his dissertation. So there. I just rationalized my decision to quit the podcasting thing. Between that and what might appear to be the end of my appearances on the TUAW podcast, there are now officially a mere two recordings of my voice available online. Whoop-dee-doo.

So what? Well, rationalization is such a natural human endeavor. My friend Jesse Perry came up with a great idea (among his many) for "Rationalize it, the Musical!" It would have been a hit. We all rationalize stuff. Could I make time? No, that's impossible. We all get the same number of hours in a day.

Richard Florida talks a lot about this in his work. Of course, my task is to carve out more hours via efficiency and creativity. So between now and the beginning of 2006 I'm going to work to streamline my workflow, and tune my efforts in order to free up more time. The goal is to provide the time with my family (as much as I do now, BTW), but also make time for the other projects:

1. teaching multimedia
The challenge here is pretty steep. I am required to be on-site 40hrs. per week. Within that time frame I am allowed some flexibility. A lot of my research for work spills over into my blogging. I need to further streamline that aspect. Also, interactions with students and co-workers further expands my knowledge of technology. A big hurdle will be the introduction of a new game design class. I had all but given up on getting this class, but it now looks like I have a few scant weeks to prepare... However, I'm going to really throw myself in to the class, and hope that the new learning and interaction (it's a bachelor's class) will act as an accelerant to my work.

2. blogging
Between TUAW and Download Squad it is a monumental effort to keep abreast of technology. So I need to sort of map things out. I was in a kind of coma during the mid-to-late 90's. I got back into tech around 98-99 when I moved back to Knoxville. I had always done stuff. I mean, it's in my blood. But I got more into filmmaking while in film school (logically). While at macworld this coming year I'm going to figure this one out...

3. llamapod
My little family business is about to start. I designed all the products, and really love doing it. The nuts and bolts of a business aren't so appealing to me any more, although I do want to start others. So now I'm going to be shipping and designing stuff for a bit on top of #1 and #2. Who knows where this will go? This is an unknown vector. However, this holiday season will be an indicator, and I hope to have some great feedback from it...

The first stage of generating any solution is to get the facts. I'm going to begin logging my hours, and getting a handle on things in the next 2 1/2 months. Optimizing along the way, I hope to "make" more time. Neat.

XPLANE blog

Here's another goody:

Communication Nation is the blog for XPLANE, a visual communications company. Actually, a visual thinking company. Anyone who's heard of mind-mapping will know the power of visualiztion for ideas. Well this blog has a ton of ideas on how to communicate visually.

Let's face it, you may have great ideas, but if no one can understand them they will not get any traction. Unless you're a millionaire. If you are, email me! :)

Actually, I always had a problem voicing my opinions in meetings. When I would, often people in the room didn't "get it." I come from a history of speech and debate, and it bothered me that folks didn't listen to my ideas. This changed once I learned how to frame and communicate my ideas... I think Communication Nation will help you frame your message better as well. Pay close note of all the PowerPoint notes on there...

No soup for you!

I hate to be a podcast nazi, but it looks like there will be no podcasts... Not for a couple of years anyway. Keep reading for a solution in the interim.

First, why?
1. I'm starting a business (llamapod.com, launching soon)
2. Still have kids (but my oldest just started preschool)
3. I have a paid blogging job that earns more duckets
4. Others are doing a MUCH better job than I

You can still hear me on the TUAW podcast. It's even in the iTunes Music Store now!

Yeah, TUAW and Download Squad are eating up any "free" time I had left over. What can I say? More clicks on ads here might have led to an incentive, but I doubt it. This site gets maybe a dozen hits a week, TUAW and DLS get tens of thousands a day. It's called management. Of my time and career.

However, whenever a creative thing I find does come along, I will try to post it up here.

Also, keeping in mind I don't want Jason Calacanis to think I'm trying to start a blog network. Honest Jason, I'm not. This is a sideline for me, not a busines. Nor will it ever be. Yes, I do have some other blogs. Yes, I have like one other guy blogging "for" me, and might add one or two more-- but only for the Knoxville blog, and only because I believe it's important to have fresh angles on local events. Everything else is my own creation, and just a way to get info out there. Heck, I hardly ever touch my Apple Rant blog anymore, not because Apple doesn't tick me off from time to time, but because WIN is too important to me.

Besides, it's not like I'm making any money off this stuff. By the end of the year I'll maybe have $12 to show for all of this, and that's including my iTunes, Amazon, and Google dough. Whoopideedoo!

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. There is one creativity 'cast that shall go unmentioned that is just silly. A lot of "you can do it!" kinda motivational talk. I don't get into those things. Despite what it might seem to readers here, I am pretty damned motivated. Hell, I sleep about 4 hours a night to cram in all the crap that I do, and still manage to have a big revolving To Do list (and yeah, I know about GTD... I do a modified form, OK?). Oh, and if Jason does read this, I totally need to be on the "Lost" podcast, as a wrap-up of sites with theories... Sorry to say this Ryan & C.K., but I'm not "into" listening to a non-funny MST3K-style podcast of my favorite show. I don't watch it three times a week to hear the vision-disabled version. Anyway...

So here's your creative fix in the meanwhile:
There are some great creativity podcasts out there. So a big part of my decision really came down to the fact that, if they make a great phone book, why create an inferior phone book? Just to say, "hey look at me?" I might have an ego, but it ain't that big. I get my ego fix on WIN, and even that's a crushing blow (as I see I'm not even on the charts when it comes to blogger searches)...

So here are a couple of podcasts everyone should check out for their educational value and impeccable content.

Icon-o-Cast by Lunar Design is great. It's got a bent towards the product, ad, marketing, and design crowd, but good for everyone. Why? Well, thinking about the stuff around us, how it came to be, how it could be better, and how it can really suck-- those are all important things! You have to be aware of the world around you, and Lunar, because of their position in the industry, gets some fantastic interviews...

Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney. I gotta call and leave a message for Phil. He's a man of the world with a great sense of what needs to be done, and what can be done by people. He has a way of motivating without talking down to the smart folks. Probably one of the best podcasts I've ever heard (and I've heard WAY too many). All about creativity, ideas, and innovation. Phil has some kind of dream job, and a lot of experience in the world of thought... So trust him. Check it out, definitely worth the time. His podcasts are not only brilliant, but many are timeless in their information. That is sorely lacking in the podcast world...

That's it for now. Be pissed if you want. Better yet, yell at me in the comments! (You anonymous weiners)

How curiosity yields great (if odd) results

Worried about the math and science abilities of the next generation? Let's get back their curiosity. While I loved the new "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the mark of our age is on it: sarcasm. Don't get me wrong, I'm a snarky commenter extraordinaire, but sarcasm is killing the "mystery" of the universe. We lose our wide-eyed wonder all too soon in this modern world.

So I'm relieved when I see people doing this:
Making a hamster-tracking system.

He had a simple question: how much time does my hamster spend on his treadmill? And in the true Da Vincian spirit he set up a methodology, and created whatever technology he needed to answer the puzzle.

Here are some sites to provoke thought, or...
Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia
The Straight Dope, fixing ignorance since 1973
listen to a different perspective
try some social software
build something cool
find out how much is inside

Podcast coming before too long folks!

A little more about me before we continue...

OK, why would you keep reading/listening? Believe me, I'm no real "expert," just a curious dude exploring the universe. Gentleman scientist, armchair director, and general commentator... Do I create?

Hell yes! Here's my story in a nutshell:

I had the great fortune to see a college university growing up, because they were both finishing up graduate degrees while I was young. Around my 6th birthday my parents had steady jobs working in the chemical industry. This was a pretty good town too, as the BIG company paid lotsa taxes, so we had an excellent public school system. I grew up with summer camps in the woods, Space Camp a couple of times (won the Right Stuff award once), debate, theater, science, foreign language, the whole nine yards. I took a correspondence school class in Electronic Music Technology, and pioneered the use of the computer for publishing our annual. Very techy, but I also liked to draw, play music, and have fun with my friends...

In college I kinda did the "tune in, turn on, drop out" thing, although I never dropped out of school. I went from computer engineering to journalism to english. Forgive my grammar. I went to a very large university, and was exposed to several lifetimes worth of experiences. I also travelled a bit, to Europe and South America, where I have relatives. Good times, great oldies. It was working in the music library where I discovered the creation of the World Wide Web. In fact, I began using Mosaic when it was only a month old! I had used the internet in middle school and high school, but the web was a bold new frontier (duh).

Continuing my stint as a Renaissance Man, I went to film school after getting my B.A. in English (creative writing). My freshman film was the most ambitious fx-based movie ever done at the time. It was also pretty silly (sort of Ed Wood meets the X-Files). By the time I'd gradutated from film school I had a passion for animation (3d and 2d), writing, cinematography, graphic design, and something more... I kept up with technology, but didn't stay ahead. The best thing was that I got started working with video on the web, which led me to my move back to my old college town (well, that an my future wife).

When I came back to my old stomping ground I realized pretty quickly that film production here is nill, and the video waters are just sorta mind-numbing. Don't get me wrong, I worked with some amazing people-- but they were drinking a different kool-aid. No one seemed to get the tech angle I was proposing. Some of the elbows I rubbed could have done what Mark Cuban did, they just lacked the "vision" thing. Oh well, that can wait.

So I tired of the video production scene, and moved on to new challenges. For a brief while I worked on everything from construction crews to websites to databases. Then I landed my "dream job" teaching. I make good money, have a decent environment, and great hours. It keeps me and my family sane and well-fed. Mission accomplished. I only wish I had this training when I went off to film school!

Now that I've hit that famous plataeu, I feel like it's time to move on to other challenges. Thus, I turn inward. Time to improve my little monkey brain! Thus, the Da Vinci Notebooks. And the other blogs... No, I don't make movies any more, and what I did do aren't worth revisiting (same with the TV shows). I'm most proud of my latest accomplishments: teaching, writing, and raising 2 amazing kids.

Enough about me. Let's get on with it!

Hi Everybody! plus, a quick tip

Well, I had no idea anyone was still around... Thanks for the comments. Seriously, those things drive me to blog more (and leave my family in the dust... just kidding honey!).

So my time's loss is your gain. I am going to try and get even more goodies on this blog. Creative toys, techniques, tips, tricks, honest & useful workflows, the whole shebango...

And there might even be a podcast coming! By popular request I will be resuming podcasting, even if it is on a sporadic basis. The good thing is, I'll make sure to try and get it in iTunes, so it'll be that much easier to get updates... More news as this develops.

Now for the quick tip:

Over at the Design Weblog David Chartier has a great little post about a cool design blog & series called Be Aware (link goes to number 2 in the 3 parts available).

And thanks for your support.

The root cause of creativity?

I believe it's curiosity. Nuture it, encourage it in children. Without it, you're just another worker bee.

Now, to develop your creative chops, check this site out for dozens of different creative techniques (brainstorming is on there):

Creativity Techniques

Hats off to Darren Chan over at the Design Weblog for finding this one.

Live8 Insider

Live8 Insider

We can eliminate world hunger. Isn't that an amazing thing?

Live8 is calling attention to the fact that we CAN...

Live8insider is backstage in Philly...

Moving this way...

I'm writing over here now...

What a short, quaint trip it was

Well, time to put this thing to bed after all. I do not know if there will be another podcast. There are two reasons

1) Family matters
2) Format

1) I've been doing a lot of just enjoying time with the kids lately. As a matter of fact, I'm very lucky in that due to my particular situation I'm able to spend a LOT of time with family. And I'm going to enjoy it while the kids are here tugging at my sleeve-- as opposed to when I'm trying to track them down (as teenagers).

2) Ultimately I have to ask the question, is what I'm doing the best way to do it? While podcasting seems to gain momentum I feel like there is definitely a place for my podcast. However, much of what I'd planned over the next few months could just as easily be put into blog entries. And who reads those anyway?

Considering the time and energy put into it, a podcast at this point just isn't worth it. I do plan to keep blogging on here and with no pressure of a podcast looming I might be pretty frequent about it...

As they say, "so long and thanks for all the fish."

Good News / Bad News

First, the bad news: still no podcast!

Now, the good news: it's coming.

Here's the deal. All of a sudden I'm involved in a whole bunch of really amazing things. Can't talk about most of them right now (you know, business stuff), and I thought about canceling the podcast altogether.

BUT, I think I'll just get back to basics. Ditching the format, getting looser, more like a podcast typically is-- more like jazz than classical.

There will be direction, some structure, and most importantly good content. Also, there will not be a schedule. Just tune your iPodder software to the feedburner link up in the right corner there to automagically get the latest show.

Hooray!

Stay tuned.

*cough*

I'm quite sick now. There WILL be a March podcast. But unless you want to hear coughing and sniffling it'll be sometime between today and middle of next week. Sorry folks.

In the spirit of keeping your neurons firing however, I give you a link from my personal stash:
Personal media

As opposed to "mass media." What I saw of the PSP's my students brought in this week only confirms Miyagawa's concepts.

Food for thought. I'm going to bed to get well...

Rain delay...

Looks like this month's show will be a couple of days late. But I'd rather be late than lousy, so I expect the show to be ready by the 23rd. In the meanwhile, I highly suggest checking this out:

Onomy Labs

Imagine if all your training, education, even entertainment were fashioned in such a manner. Just a hint of what's to come this Wednesday. Stay tuned!

Once again, for those of you who don't know what podcasting is, please check out ipodder.org

Coming in March

Leonardo Da Vinci self portrait
Originally uploaded by superpixel.

More on Da Vinci by the 20th of March.

In particular, Da Vinci's take on the wellspring of creativity: natural human curiosity.

For more background on Da Vinci's contributions to art and science, check out:

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/davinci.htm

EMAIL UPDATE

A quick change in email address. The podcast references one, my profile shows another. However, in order to serve you better I've consolidated all emails regarding this podcast under ONE email:

davincifeedback@mac.com

Sorry for the sudden change. This will more readily alert me to requests and feedback, and protect my inbox from spam more effectively. Thanks!

Feb 2005 Show notes!

PODCASTING

With any luck you've already heard the podcast.

So maybe you have a system for subscribing to podcasts, or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about. To learn all about this stuff and download the software you need to participate in this exciting new method of distributing communication, check the "mother of all podcast sites"-- iPodder.org

There have been a number of articles in the media, and brief mentions on TV regarding this "new" system as well... A quick google search for podcast should keep you busy...

If all you need is software (whether Mac, Linux, or the dreaded Windows) you can go straight to their download page.

Please remember (and remember to tell people) that you do NOT have to use an iPod! Any MP3 player will do, and that includes your PC. Podcasting is merely a way of distributing MP3 files on a subscription basis. And by subscription I mean in the automatic sense, not the pay-to-play sense.

Once you have your podcast software, the stuff you use to subscribe to "feeds" you'll want to paste this URL into that software so you'll automagically get the show each month (usually the 20th):
http://www.superpixel.com/davinci.xml

Let's say you don't want or need to be automated. Let's say you like to just download the show manually. If so, you can get to the files using this base URL:
http://idisk.mac.com/vagreda/Public/davinciThemeTest.mp3


Now where it says davinciThemeTest you'll want to change that text each month. The format will be the word davinci, plus the 3-letter abbreviation of the month, plus the 2-number abbreviation of the year. So this month it is:
http://idisk.mac.com/vagreda/Public/davincifeb05.mp3
NOTE: the above is now a link, so you can save it directly to whatever you like now...

Also note that this URL will only work for current shows. So in March, that URL won't work. It's not a great situation, but the best I can do for now. If you subscribe via feed I think everything will work out OK. I'll post links to archived shows next month...


Leonardo Da Vinci

Here are some links for more info on the man himself, Leonardo Da Vinci.

For basic encyclopedia information check out the Wikipedia article.

Italy has a Leonardo Da Vinci museum.

The BBC has a great interactive site too.

And there's this simply done but nice site.

Last, there's the Boston Museum of Science's pages on Leonardo.

Rise of the Creative Class

Don't forget to check the link to buy the book on the right side of this page (scroll down), which helps pay my bandwidth bills!

But here's Richard Florida's official site. And I see he's released a couple of new books...
Here's a 3rd party article discussing the book.
Here's an article with some deabte on Florida's work. We'll discuss some of this later: Creative Class War


MAGIC

There are two versions (not conflicting) of how Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear.
The non-technical and the more technical.
Make sure you read the last couple of lines on the technical page...

Recommended reading on Magic tricks:
Juan Tamariz wrote a seminal book on the art of magic.
Eugene Burger can take a simple trick and build an amazing story around it.
Read more about both of them here. I highly recommend The Art of Magic by Tamariz.

Paul Harris is one of the most innovative magicians ever. The collections "Art of Astonishment" include sections where he simply imagines tricks-- things that MIGHT be possible. It's great.
Check his work out here, here, and here. That last link will take you to Penguin Magic, one of the best shops anywhere...

Jay Sankey is exclusive to Penguin, and a new breed of magician who really does think "outside the box."

I happened to find ONE halfway decent article on creativity and magic, but it's written for magicians by a magician. Go figure. Check it out here if you're interested.

And lastly, you'll find a HUGE list of magicians here. I would suggest you check out books by Harry Lorayne too. He wrote several popular books in the 70's around memory, that is, systems for remembering things. He largely pioneered (or popularized anyway) mnemonics, a great system for remembering things AND kind've a creative exercise as well.

CLOSING COMMENTS

I hope you enjoyed the show, and I thank you for reading and listening. If you wish to contact me about the podcast directly, please use the ipodcase AT gmail DOT com email address.

The transcript of the show is also available to those who email me. There are some errors in the podcast, so no need to point them out. For instance, I say that the Creative Class doesn't span age or income-- it does! I also had a few logical mixups... These will be sorted out in future podcasts, so stick with us!

Until the 20th of March,
_victor

Podcast URL

Here's the URL for the podcast. Right now there's just a little music. With the production machine back in service (more or less, Apple has yet to actually fix the issue I've been having) we are still GO for Feb. 20.

http://www.superpixel.com/davinci.xml

Copy and paste into your favorite aggregator!

UPDATE!

I'm remaining hopefully optimistic that the podcast will go on-air as scheduled Feb. 20. Unfortunately, my primary machine (iBook G4) has sailed away to Memphis for repair. Today. No idea when it will return.

So... I have to figure out a way to record, encode, upload, and publish the podcast betwixt now and the 20th without all my data, settings, etc. Yes, I have backup machines (and a Mac mini on the way), but none are setup for my iPod!

I suppose at this point I should mention my process for podcasting. Normally I'd eschew these details, as the world has plenty of "podcasts about podcasts" but I thought it might be enlightening for those of you new to podcasting in general.

Here's the plan:
1. After doing research and some show notes, record the podcast DIRECTLY onto the iPod using Griffin Technology's iTalk.
2. The recorded audio is transferred to iTunes, where I then use a 3rd party tool to translate it into an MP3 and add appropriate ID3 tags. At this stage I also splice in the bumper music.
3. Once I have the MP3, it's FTP'd up to the host site.
4. After that, the XML file used for RSS is hand-coded, posted, and released into the wild.
5. Using Feedburner or posting to iPodder.org, publicize the podcast...
6. Rake in the dough. (Joke)

This is by NO means streamlined. I'm analyzing a host of tools for automating the process. Guess I'll have to use my creative brain for that!

UPDATE: You can now subscribe to the Atom text feed of this blog! See the right-hand side of this page for the bug/link. It's the easiest way to keep track of show notes and new info.

A date is set...

OK folks, looks like we are going live on February 20, 2005. I hope to keep it around 15-30 minutes, because I know people are busy. The aim is to be informative, entertaining, and above all, USEFUL.

Join me on the journey of discovery!

Next week I'll post up a preview URL that will become the feed URL. So stay tuned and you can add it to your aggregator of choice. And if you have no idea what I just said, tune in next week anyway as I'll briefly explain all this podcasting stuff...