Yes, I know it’s been ages since I posted, mainly because I’m busy as all hell and also because I prefer microblogging on Twitter. But I thought I’d share this simple little widget we created for South by Southwest Interactive. I’m heading to Austin tomorrow and this is what my schedule will probably look like for the next few days. Ping me if you’re there, and check out our online rating tool built specifically for the conference.
Yeah, yeah – I know. I’ve been a terrible blogger of late (though a little better about tweeting). And so now I finally have the energy to write something and it’s nothing more than a commercial for the panels I’ve submitted to South by Southwest. So sue me. But make sure you vote first.
When my sister gave me the news of Charlton Heston’s death, the first thing I said was “Did they pry his gun out of his cold, dead hands?”
I was a fan of Arthur C. Clarke when I was a kid and, like many, was sad to hear of his death. Today I learned this:
While a radar technician in the Royal Air Force (1941-1946), Clarke had an idea which he wrote up in a 1945 technical paper: “Extra-terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?” It was the invention of the geosynchronous communications satellite. He calculated that by putting a satellite at 22,300 miles above the equator, it would orbit the Earth at the same rate that the Earth rotated on its axis, making the satellite appear to always stay directly above a point on the equator. That way ground stations could always point to it, and it could relay signals. The 22,300-mile orbit is now officially known as the “Clarke Orbit”, but it took nearly 20 years for the first operational satellite to be placed there (and 10 before the first orbital rocket flight). Today, that band of space is stuffed with satellites. He mused he “lost a billion dollars in my spare time” by not patenting the idea.
Courtesy of This is True’s always-interesting Honorary Unsubscribe.
Wow, who knew William Shatner could be so philosophical?
Q: If that horse had killed you, what would you have regretted never achieving?
A: Everything. I’ve done nothing. What have I done? I’ve blundered my way through life. So I have my picture on the wall. The minute I die, that picture will start to yellow and fade and eventually be gone. Blown in the wind and become part of the molecular structure of something else. These things we see as “success,” they’re non-accomplishments.
Q: So is that how you think of your Emmy for Boston Legal? And the millions of lives you touched as Captain James Tiberius Kirk?
A: Careers are here and they’re gone. I enjoy performing, and I feel lately like I’ve reached the apex of what I can do as a performer. Even my memory for dialogue has never been sharper. But no matter how great we think we are, we’re nothing but the temples of Ozymandias—we’re ruins in the making.
Found via Brijit.
December 11th, 2007
Derek
Best quote I’ve read so far this morning:
“I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have. I felt that if I could help students overcome the fear rejection with cold-calling and cold e-mail, it would serve them forever.”
How to Get George Bush or the CEO of Google on the Phone
November 21st, 2007
Derek
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