Russell Davies

streaming anchovy

Remember the ducks? Here are the anchovy.Quicktime (2.2MB) Videopod (2.8MB)

And here are some big jellyfish. Quicktime (1.5MB) Videopod (4MB)

And a little one. Quicktime (0.5MB) Videopod (2.5MB)

Monterey Bay aquarium - splendid place.

finally, a point for blogging

Diablogue talks about a thing Sprint are doing - giving phones to bloggers, with free access to all sorts of broadband content - and asking them to blog honestly about the experience.

My initial thought is obvious - where's my phone? (I guess I'm on the wrong continent, that'll be it) but my secondary thought is - what a good idea. Apart from the obvious self-interest, it's the perfect thing to do with a product you believe in.

This is the start of something big, we're going to see a lot more of this. Public sampling. Public trialling.

video nasty

I've had no time to do a useful bit of video this week so I'm offering you this instead, which I made on my travels for Valentine's Day for Anne. Be warned. It makes me look extremely silly and contains no useful advice.

Valentines.mov Quicktime. 4MB.

Valentines.m4v Videopod version. 14MB.

four things

Rob Forshaw emailed me about the Four Things doodah. (I think he's feeling left out and wanted someone to tag him, so here we go).

Four Jobs That I've Had

Paperboy
Joke-writer
Postman
Van Unloader

Four Movies I Can Watch Over And Over

Gregory's Girl
The Longest Day
School For Scoundrels
Star Wars

Four Places I Have Lived

Allestree, Derby
Hawthorne, Portland
The Middle Ages, Cambridge
All over, London

Four TV Shows I Like To Watch

The West Wing
House
Match Of The Day
Teen Titans

Four Foods That I Like

Egg
Bacon
Chips
Beans

Four Websites I Visit Daily

Shewring
I Like
Flickr
Coudal

Four Things I Want To Do Before I Die

Learn to fence
Walk the Appalachian Trail
Build a robot that will make me a cup of tea and bring it upstairs
Challenge The Signs Of Aging

Four People I'm Tagging

Shewring
Dear Ada
Brand New
Rob over to you Rob...

the state of the something

I watched the State of the Union ritual this evening and really paid attention for the first time. I don't really remember noticing it when I was living here.

And I was struck by what a great idea it is, irrespective of content or who's delivering it. It's a tremendous idea for any organisation - the simple notion that once a year someone has to turn up and say what they think is going on, say whether things are going well or badly, say what they think should happen next. And that all the people who make the decisions and make things happen should be there to listen.

Obviously many organisations do this, but many don't, and all could benefit from it, not just at the top but all the way through - an annual 'State Of The Department' address should be mandatory for anyone who manages anyone or anything. Even if you're just talking to yourself. It shouldn't be a huge performance, just a moment of time when everyone pays attention to a bigger, longer picture.

planning paraphernalia

I saw the Brothers Grimm on a plane yesterday. ( I liked it, I love the worlds that Terry Gilliam creates). And I especially liked the paraphernalia that the Brothers used to perform their ousting of evil spirits. Instruments and tubes and wires and thingys in special compartments in special cases.

I've always been a sucker for that kind of thing.

I always wanted a special Joe 90 secret agent spy case.

And I always like the cases assassins have in movies - they open their case and all the tools of the trade are right there in proper little compartments cut into the foam. It connotes such authority and expertise. It tells you that they've got everything they need and nothing they don't. And that they know what they're doing, they've done this before.

Photographer's have some of the same thing going on, with their foam packed cases. And Doctors and Medics with their bags. And Boone in Pattern Recognition has a similarly impressive suitcase.

I wish planners had a similar need for paraphernalia - it would make the job less virtual, give it more authority. Maybe we should try and invent some. Small vials of gravitas, special insighting equipment and retractable briefing pods.

a little local difficulty

Blogging turns out to be hard.

But it turns out to be harder when people of read the thing and decide to interact. In the past few days I've been slightly rude to Iain and a bit more rude to David. (see the comments on this post). I have no excuse really. I probably wouldn't have been if they'd been having a go at me (and 'having a go' is putting it a bit strong), but I felt bad because Dylan had volunteered his time for an interview and then got misinterpreted and attacked.

But I should remember that's what this stuff is all about. It's good that people post comments, and good that they disagree. So if I'm rude to people - I'm sorry, I don't mean to be. I've been a bit grumpy for the last couple of days.

And all the people waiting for the results on the third assignment - I'll get to it at the weekend. You should have something on Monday.

excellence in spelling

the four tools of the plannerclypse

I have this work practise of writing in notebooks, and then, when I've finished the notebook, scanning and archiving all the good ideas. It's not as onerous as it sounds. I don't have that many good ideas.

I had a bit of a backlog and in going through them I found some stuff I'd intended to blog while I was computerless. I thought I'd stick them up, if that's OK, hope you can read my writing. Apologies for spelling mistakes etc.

email problems

if you're trying to get hold of me via russell at russelldavies.com and it's not working you might have to be a little patient. Sorry. Network solutions appear to have deleted my email. I'll let you know as soon as it's back up. Or leave a comment here and I'll get in touch.