phyllostachys 61: Minute Tech 46 show notes

46 - What is Sledding?

Good morning, this is Alex Landefeld with episode 46 of the Minute Tech podcast -

coming to you for Friday, December 7th, 2007

On this tech podcast about the broader meanings of technology, we'll mention:

- Morgan Stanley, Atlantis and the Evil Empire;
- What is Sledding?
- and, Seeking Stylistic Cues from FAP and BizTech.

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Minute Tech podcast is brought to you in part by:

Larry Tolbert's Sunday Morning Taiji - learning tai chi and qi gong 9:30 am every Sunday morning at the Dunamis Baptist Church, in Wilkinsburg, PA. "Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji" - e-mail leonardtolbert-[at]-hotmail-[dot]-com for more info.

And:

Ravelings, by Carol. Pittsburgh-region classes in needle-craft - encompassing crochet, embroidery, knitting, & tatting, as well as an associated lace collection. For more information, contact Carol at carolb207-[at]-alltel-[dot]-net.

Tech News:

1st, I'm only going to say this once...today: invest for the future. No matter what your income level, get a day job, whether volunteer or for pay, and start saving whatever you can for some point in the future.

2nd, assuming you're along the road in investing for the future, I only have two hot stock tips: Apple, Inc and Morgan Stanley. Apple is at it's 52-week high, but could be considered cheap; Morgan Stanley is at it's 52-week low, and is in a painfully situated industry...but Morgan Stanley is well situated for the future.

Well, yesterday I reported that Space Shuttle Atlantis was headed into Earth orbit...and but for a faulty fuel sensor, it would have. While filling tanks with the more than 500,000 gallons (2.2 million litres) of cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen that the shuttle uses for it's 8.5 minute boost into orbit, a fuel sensor problem cropped up, causing the flight to be scrubbed and rescheduled for lift-off on Saturday, Dec. 8th.

The Evil Empire seeks redress on the loss of it's Death Star. Well, okay, I mean the other Evil Empire...the one associated with Bill Gatus of Borg. According to a story by Paul McDougall of InformationWeek, and I quote:

"Microsoft has asked the designers of a low-cost Linux laptop intended for children in developing nations to redesign the system so it can accommodate its Windows XP operating system."

"In a move sure to provoke controversy, Microsoft wants the designers of the XO laptop, available through a non-profit initiative called One Laptop Per Child, to add a port through which the storage capacity required by Windows XP can be added to the system."

"The XO currently runs on a Red Hat Linux operating system. Making the laptop compatible with XP would give students in poor countries access to "tens of thousands of existing educational applications written for Windows," said James Utzschneider, a Microsoft general manager, in a blog post Wednesday. "

End of quote.

Oh, phew! I thought for a minute there, Microsoft was seeking to wrest control away from that upstart Linux. But, no, they really are a big microsoftie and seek to give the poor kids of the world access to oodles of educational bloatware.


Tech Question:

Okay, now we get to the heart of the matter. What is Sledding?

Perhaps you think this question was covered in the previous show's question of what is Tobogganing...and perhaps we put the cart before the horse on that one. Quite simply, sledding is the act of using some technologically advanced tool, like a flat piece of wood or an animal hide, to speed one's descent down any snow-covered hillside.

An interesting excerpt from wikipedia on the subject says that "Modern sledding began in St Moritz during the early 1870s when British visitors with more time than activities began to experiment and play around with boys delivery sleds ... for recreation at the dawn of winter resorting in winter climes."

Are they kidding? Modern sledding began when homo sapiens boys noticed that the bear furs being used by neanderthal boys had much better ride characteristics than the deer hides that they'd stolen from their own parent's cave. The homo sapiens boys begged and pleaded with their dads to get similar furs, which of course would be far warmer for mother (the maternally supported sales pitch) and would be far easier to catch than a deer (the paternally supported sales pitch). After being artfully convinced, the homo sapiens dads realized that just taking the bear skins was easier still, which they did just after they convinced the neanderthal dads that a big herd of wooly mammoth elephants had just passed north of the valley, headed into the woods. The neanderthal families were not heard from again...and the homo sapiens boys scored awesome snow-riding furs!

Also, although implied by all the cool sledding implements you can pick up at your local superstore, or watch the use of in the Winter Olympics, these examples by no means prohibit the use of ingenuity to get one from the top of a snow covered hill to the bottom, while avoiding rocks, trees and other sledders. Many a sledder has found that simply flopping on his or her back may provide and excellent alternative to sliding on their feet, or if they can steal a plastic tray from the school cafeteria, awesome times will be had by all.

Safety equipment is certainly recommended when sledding. I recommend helmets, gloves and scarves for children and thermos' of hot cocoa, coffee or apple cider for the parents. Any other equipment is strictly optional. :-)

Podcasting - Blogging News:

So, I mentioned yesterday that I listen to my own podcasts, using them as a memory repository, so see what I was thinking in the past, or how meagerly I may have introduced a story which now screams to be told in more detail. Well, I'm also listening to my past podcasts for stylistic reasons:

What is it about the content or method of presentation that grabs me or makes me yawn?
How could improve either delivery or production to make the show better for the listener?
And, how can I improve things such that I'm expanding my own skills and techniques?

These are the three primary questions running through my mind as I listen to my shows. These are now also the questions I ask as I listen to the shows of others.

Two examples of shows I'm listening to for stylistic cues: Christopher S. Penn's Financial Aid podcast and Adam Wolf's BizTech podcast. Chris, who is the CTO of the Student Loan Network in Boston, MA, has produced 684 daily podcasts about the ins and out of student financial aid in specific and finance, technology & marketing in general - FAP's shows average about 12 minutes; Adam, as the owner of Cellcon Consulting in New York City, has produced 26 weekly BizTech podcasts - BizTech shows run about 3 minutes, 15 seconds.

Thats all for today on Minute Tech podcast.
you can reach me at minutetech@gmail.com -
and my blog is at minutetech.blogspot.com

"Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji"

- Morgan Stanley, Atlantis and the Evil Empire;
- What is Sledding?
- and, Seeking Stylistic Cues from FAP and BizTech.

Go to the Minute Tech iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.