Category: Events

Burning Man 2001 Video

In 2001 I went to Burning Man for the first time. I went by myself. I didn’t know anyone there. (Thanks to Mike L I got introduced to some Burners.) I drove up with someone I met just before the long ride from Berkley. It was a formative time in my life to say the least. While there I shot video of “The Man” with my crappy hi8 video camera. I made this video as a token of thanks and love. Its for the people on the playa that fed me and treated me like a King. For some reason I didn’t share this with too many of them. I’m not sure why. Now just about six years later its online. Funny how times burns.

BarCampRDU 2007 Announced

Fred has announced BarCampRDU 2007 will be August 11. Go over to his blog post to learn more. Registration will happen soon on the wiki. It’ll be held at Red Hat in Raleigh again. I hope Ruby and I can go this year. Last years event was held on our wedding day! 🙂

UpdateThis event will not be on Aug. 11. Some sorta conflict…. Will blog new date when I know it.
Update 2August 2, 2007 is the new date. That’s a Thursday…

No Power

We still don’t have electricity at home. Its been out now since 10am Monday. Ruby telecommutes from home so she’s a digital nomad today.

Yesterday evening we saw what may be the cause of our power outage. A big ole’ electrical pole has snapped off at the top. The only thing keeping it off the ground are the wires. A large tree fell on the line. Must have had lots of force to snap such a thick piece of wood.

Umstead Drive
Pic by Ruby

Take the Bloggers Bowling!

Ever since Anton announced that we we’re going to have a blogger meetup at a bowling alley I’ve been hearing this song in my head. Camper Van Beethoven had it right. We need to Take the Skinheads Bloggers Bowling!

Join the Chapel Hill bloggers this Wednesday as we bowl a few games at Mardi Gras Lanes (Hwy 54 near I-40). It’s a family night at the lanes — and Valentine’s Day to boot — so bring your loved ones and children. We’ll start at 6pm, but join us when you can. Mardi Gras has free wifi, and we’ll talk blogging and more as we bowl.

For clarity sake I don’t think Bloggers are like Skinheads. Bowling and Blogger both start with B. Plus we got a little angst to work out. But it is on Valentines day… weird. 😀 BTW, there maybe some live blogging/bowling tonight!

Update Alas… no live blogging while bowling. It was LOUD rock and glow family nite with no beer. Anton got online. He has some pics too. I was to busy putting a hurtn’ on those pins and my mouse wrist. Ouch!

Creativity + Fans x Love = Money

Recently I wrote about the News and Observer’s use of YouTube video on their blog of a Duke game on ESPN. I think its very cool and hope more MSM websites adopt this practice. But my ruminations deal with the legality of this practice among for-profit business. Especially when copyright owners, like university athletic programs, don’t allow fans to take video of their events. I think the differentiation between broadcast video and fan video needs to disappear. At least from a promotion standpoint. i.e. When a fan makes a video of an event they do it out of love not profit. That passion translates into good free event promotion.

Let fans share video and pictures they take of college sports. Encourage it even. You’ll be glad you did later.

Here are a few of my comments on Ed Cone’s blog when this issue was brought up in December 2005. Please read this blog post by Ed Cone for more context.

Dec 19, 2005
(1) “They should encourage fan videos and pics then give them a place to share it…If UNC and the ACC can’t understand this now they’ll have some hard lessons to learn about new media in the near future. The number of these small video cameras will only increase plus younger fans will EXPECT to be able to use them. Banning them would create bad publicity, FAST.”

Dec 19, 2005
(2) “I think it’s important to point out that Ed’s video or others like it aren’t a replacement for real TV coverage. Nor are they ANY real financial threat. I love watching college basketball and wouldn’t watch little vids instead of a higher rez version. These small vids are viral advertisements. A type of social activity that basketball fans, young and old, can enjoy. When you give a community (ie ACC basketball fans) a common activity that layers on top of another (ie following the tar heels) you have a very strong synergy. Creativity + fans x love = money.”

Hat Tip to Ed for the link .