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I've moved my blog here.

The Rock

Tonya got us spectacular front row tickets to a Toronto Rock playoff game through Groupon. We were so close I kept thinking the goalie was in the way. After trailing the Bandits for most of the game, they came back to win it 13-11.

They went on to beat the Orlando Titans 15-10. Unfortunately, the Rock came up short last Saturday in the final against the Washington Stealth where they blew a 10-6 lead to lose 15-11.

The Rock have held the National Lacrosse League title for the past 5 years in a row.

Tube Stairs

Some stairs from the Tube in London.

ONOIR

Tonya and I have decided we will go to this restaurant some day soon. You get to experience what it's like to be blind. The whole restaurant is pitch black. Most of the servers are blind.

ROM

Tonya and I were at the ROM a week ago...just before it closed. We had the place all to ourselves.

Videos in PowerPoint 2003

Getting videos to work in PowerPoint on a PC can be frustrating. Here are some things to try if you're stuck.

The key is your video must in a compatible format (e.g. avi, mpeg, mp4 (also called Quicktime), wmv, mov...) AND it must be compressed with a compatible codec (CoDec - stands for compressor/decompressor e.g. Cinepak, DivX, Xvid, huffyuv, wmv1, wmv2, x264...).

PC users are best off working with avi files that have been encoded using the Cinepak codec by Radius.

What if you're given a video that doesn't work in PowerPoint? There are two free tools and one you have to pay for that I've found can help convert a video to make it work:

I always try VideoMach first. It lets you save an avi using the Cinepak codec directly. VideoMach can not read mp4 files.

If Videomach can't read the file, I try Any Video Converter. Export to avi using the wmv1 codec. This mostly works in PowerPoint but is not as nice as a Cinepak avi. A Cinepak avi will play in PowerPoint whether your in 'slide show' mode or in the 'edit' mode. A wmv1 avi will only play in 'slide show' mode. If you want the wmv1 avi to work in edit mode, resave it as a cinepak avi using VideoMach.

Or, if it's a Quicktime (mp4) movie (from a Mac user let's say) I'd suggest paying $38 to get Quicktime Pro. You can use it to convert you mp4 to a Cinepak avi. Any Video Converter works too, but with the limitation that you'll have to use the wmv1 codec.

Note 1: Just because a video plays in Windows Media Player does not mean it will work in PowerPoint. PowerPoint hands videos off to Windows to play. Windows uses something called the Multimedia Control Interface for playback. It does not use Windows Media Player.

Note 2: Here's a good reference for more info.

Note 3: There are probably a million other ways to make videos work in PowerPoint. These are just the quickest and easiest methods to the most common issues I've come across.

Stair clarification

I'm told not everyone understood the top of flight defect issue. Perhaps a sketch will help. The problem is the missing nosing on the top stair. This causes a person coming down the stairs to expect the 3rd stair to be just as long as the 2nd stair. But since a>b due to the nosing, people often overstep the 3rd stair.

Big Ben

Gratuitous tourist shot from London.

Stairs and Doing what you love

The conference I was at in the UK was on stair design research. Apparently stair related hospitalizations are on the rise. In Ontario, 10 people are hospitalized every day due to a stair related injury. The funny thing is people generally blame themselves if they fall even though the problem is often with the stairs.

One reason for the increase in falls may be due to a 'top of flight' defect as Jake Pauls calls it. The irregularity at the top step is caused by builders not putting a nosing on the top step. Jake says 75% of homes in Canada have this problem. It's easy to check. Just sight along the stairs and you'll be able to see if spacing changes as it does in the photo above at the top step. I was shown many case studies where people broke hips, cracked their skulls and died as a result of this defect. Often this problem can be solved by simply adding a nosing to the top step for minimal cost.

Go check your stairs now.

Graph and Photo credit: Jake Pauls.


Link of the day:
I don't agree with everything he's talking about...but it's worth a listen.


Ok...really...go check your stairs.

Puppies and bias

I saw these puppies in the front of a photography studio in Windsor.


Link of the day:
Everyone should know about the different types of bias we can fall victim to. Thanks for the link Em.

Hooters and Net Neutrality

The similarity is uncanny. The instrument shop is in Windsor.

It looks like Bell has won a ruling to bill users based on how much they download each month. Thanks to Alex for posting this.

I don't particularly like Bell or their service, and generally agree that if it's good for them, it's bad for us. But perhaps this is the best solution for keeping the net neutral and avoiding the selective throttling Bit Torrent users that Bell is doing now.

The link of the day is another one from the Vlog Brothers that deals with net neutrality.

A good hot long shower is truly awesome.

Mind the Gap and Chrome Speed Test

A photo in the Tube in London.

Link of the day: Google Chrome Speed Test
Thanks to Luca Ragogna for posting this.

Horse at Sunset

Another ash laden sunset at Keele University.

In other news, here's a 4 minute explanation of the Greek debt crisis that Mike posted. Thanks to Mike and his fancy pants.

Painters

These were a couple of painters at Eton College in Windsor.

Self Checkout Scanner

The Waitrose grocery store in Windsor has gone one step beyond the self checkout and has moved to everyone carrying around their own barcode scanner.

Tree

The reason I was in the UK recently was for a conference at the University of Keele. The campus was out in the middle of some beautiful countryside.

Return of the Planes

I was still in Windsor when the planes started flying again. This timelapse starts off looking out over the Thames and you can just see Windsor Castle as the camera pans to the left. Then we move to the Long Walk again but this time looking along it from the castle end. Keep an eye to the sky and see how many planes you can spot.

Music: Nightbirds by Danosongs

Long Walk

I visited Windsor Castle while in the UK. There's a 3km path called the Long Walk" that leads to the castle. This video is shot from the start of that path. You can see the haze in the distance which I think is caused by the volcanic ash from Iceland. Notably missing from the scene are planes flying overhead as the castle is located directly beneath the approach to one of Heathrow airport's runways. I was told that this normally results in a plane flying by every 2 or 3 minutes and that it was quite a treat to be experiencing the view without all the noisy planes.

The music is "Ultra Violet" by team9.

Foggy Day at Disney

I stuck my camera out on my hotel room balcony while I attended a conference in Florida. You can see Epcot Center come into view as the fog clears.

Christmas in March

It was warm yesterday. Maybe a little too warm. Got me thinking about colder times. Like at Christmas when Tonya and I set up the Christmas tree in Sudbury. Music by Chance's End

Bike ride

My Bike Ride Home from Tilak Dutta on Vimeo.

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. This is my route home from work. Music by No Really - Molten: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/5298

Jelly Beans

These jelly beans were found on Queen west.

Red Olympic Mitts

Tonya's mom bought us the now famous Olympic mitts for Christmas. Interesting to note that they were a last minute addition and that they broke the rules when they decided to sell them to the public: article

Post Win Celebration

This was the scene at Yonge and Dundas after we won hockey gold. I counted three different people climbing the traffic lights.

Heart Rings

I heart the Olympics too. Sad they will be over soon.

VanOC

Canada enters the opening ceremonies at BC place...

There was some stunning imagery. They must have had hundreds of projectors going. At one point, they turned the entire floor into a prairie wheat field. I kept trying to figure out where they were projecting from. Could it have been from below? If it was from above, I don't understand how we didn't see the dancers' shadows more. Perhaps Brent and Tash figured out the trick...

VanOC did a great job.

The only shortcoming was a malfunction in one of the arms of the Olympic cauldron that failed to deploy.

Quirkle

A new game called "quirkle" we learned about at Christmas...

Babushka Doll

John and Michelle's Babushka has more layers than I've ever seen in one of these dolls.

Blue Sky

A picture of Tonya from a trip up to Sudbury in the Fall.

Toaster Oven

I don't like our new toaster oven. All 3 knobs have to be set correctly to make toast.

If you look closely, you'll notice the instructions: "Rotate knob past 10 then set to desired time". WTF!? What if you want to set it for 5 minutes? You have to rotate it past 10 and then back to 5?! The designers of this toaster need to read Kim Vincente's The Human Factor. It was a problem like this that led to the Chernobyl disaster.

So I have to rotate past 10...but wait. What does it say at the bottom en francais? "Tourner le bouton jusqu'a depasser la position 20 puis regler le temps desire"

Which is it? 10 or 20? Does toaster oven treat me different if I'm french?

Fire

There was a fire at my old building at 191 St. George early in the morning of Feb 4, 2010. The fire was in the first floor apartment but the scorch marks appear to have reached to the 6th floor. More photos here.

Tonya and the TTC

Looks like Adam Giambrone will be running for mayor...Not sure if it's related...but the TTC seems to be stepping up to answer their critics.

They came out with a list of promised improvements that include:
• Improved customer assistance and more emergency transfers when there are major subway delays.
• More TTC ambassadors at stations to help direct riders.
• A comprehensive review of customer service training for new employees and recertification for older staff. All 12,000 TTC employees, from the front line to management, will be evaluated on customer service performance, said TTC chair Adam Giambrone.
• A review of uniforms and dress code for frontline TTC workers.
• More use of "secret shoppers" to test courtesy across the system.
• A 24/7 hotline for TTC information and complaints.
• 50 new vending machines to dispense Metropasses. There are currently 10.
• Video screens at collector booths and stations to update system status information.
• Text messages for next-vehicle arrival at 800 streetcar stops by July and for all bus stops by the end of 2011.
• LED screens at select shelters and subway stations that have streetcar stops with next vehicle arrival information.
• New microphones in collector booths so employees and customers don't have to yell.
• Online trip planner to be unveiled next week.
• Possible expansion of program that trains summer students to direct riders at busy stations.

I'm looking forward to being able to text to find out when the next street car is coming.

New Sky

We found these stumps in De Hoge Veluwe National Park in the Netherlands. The sky in the original picture was drab grey, so I replaced it with the sky from a St. Jacobs summer day.

This is what the photo looked like originally.

And this is where I got the sky.

Food Revolution

Tonya received Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution for her birthday last year. She's been slowly working her way through it. I think she should do a Julie&Julia type blog but Tonya says she can't because I won't eat beef so she can't make many of the recipes in it. Doesn't really matter...it's more about supporting Jamie in his mission. We heard he was given the 2010 TED prize this year. The prize grants him $100,000 — and something much bigger: “one wish to change the world.”

Tree Watering

This was our solution for keeping our Christmas tree hydrated while we were away over the holidays. It worked pretty well.

Bengali Dress-up Christmas

Tonya tried on a sari over Christmas. Unfortunately, she didn't have a blouse so had to make due with a brown t-shirt.

Ma didn't think the brown shirt went with the sari so we photo-shopped it to a more suitable colour.