WanderingSalsero

Andrew Machado's Blog

Funny how things sometimes seem to come togather from different directions.  Remember that I was saying years ago that video was going to be 'the thing' on the internet? 

Well, the leading edge of that trend has come and gone but the water keeps rushing past.  Every month it seems there's something new on video technology and how people are using it.

This guy Andrew Machado.........he has a blog that had a very good article on it about that "Flip" pocket video cam line vs. the new Apple products that not only take video but also upload onto You Tube. 

You ought to read it.  What was interesting though was that I got an email from somebody named 'Andrew' commenting on that post I did last night about Apture and wanting to know if he could 'Tweet' it.  I think I know what that means so obviously I said 'sure'.

I Googled the name "Andrew Machado" and that's how I found his blog.  Whether it's the same guy as emailed me or not......he's got a nice blog.  Not a fancy theme but excellent content.

Glenn's one question makes his point

Here's Glenn Beck's most recent video blog post.  The past posts are on the same page too but the top one is his most recent.  Here, he's talking about the continuing and deteriorating situation in Mexico.

Yeah, I think it's a shame....i.e. too bad, because I really like Mexicans.  They're good people generally speaking. 

But I don't think we need any more illegal Mexican (or other) immigrants here.  And Glenn talks about their situation with swine flu down there.  It's pretty well an accepted fact that they don't have the national or local medical facilities to effectively combat such a thing.  So Glenn asked a simple question.

"When too many people try to climb on a life raft, what happens?"

You damn right........it flips over and everybody is screwed!

According to a recent report (by some military commission) there are two countries on Earth in danger of imminent social and economic collapse.   Pakistan and Mexico.

Let's forget Pakistan for this discussion but consider Mexico.

Glenn is say, 'If you're a mom, or a dad, or anybody in Mexico and you've got the swine flue and you realize that your government can't or otherwise isn't going to be able to help you.....who ya gonna call?

Ghostbusters?  Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama?

Probably not, right?

No......you're heading up north to the Great Yanqui of the North.....Los Estados Unidos....the good ol' USofA.

Kinda makes you wish we had a fence don't it?

Something you need to remember about events like this too is that they often don't just simmer.  Very often these things happen very suddenly.  And if you were in the government, are you going to raise the alarm unless you really, really, really have to?

Hell no!  You're not going to do anything that'll (a) make it seem like you're not in control, or (b) cause people to give up the ship (and lose your job).  Point is.......Mexico could collapse almost overnight.  I say....could.

And if it did start to have really serious problems (e.g. with swine flu.....or anything) what do you think Obama (our saviour) would do? 

Damn right......he'd march right down there and they would de-facto become a US protectorate.  Sure, there'd be some quid-pro-quo (this for that), maybe in the form of oil or something.  But my point is that a crises, perceived or otherwise, is a perfect opportunity for government leaders to get things done, under the guise of 'emergency', that they otherwise could never hope to accomplish. 

It's happened before kids so don't think it couldn't happen again.

Here's Glenn's video page link.

Cool YouTube tricks from Tinkernut.com

DotComLifestyle.......interesting beginning!

I got a notification this morning that there'd been a comment here on that post I did yesterday about PPC.  So I check it out, right?

It's from 'Nettie'. 

Who's Nettie?!

Nice Timba Widget I found on Planet Timba Blog

You know how it is that sometimes you get email from account that you vaguely remember opening in the dim past.  This widget came from a situation like that of mine.  I haven't looked at the blog(it's a "Blogger" blog) yet but I plan too.  The music, all Cuban timba, seems nice though.

 

News update

I've taken my Flickr badge down until I can figure out why I can't see it from where I  am.  The lady at Typepad said she could see it.  But I can't.  Is that what they call a 'rendering' problem?

Also today my desktop suddenly turned all white.  I can still see the icons (of which there are many....almost the entire desktop).   This kind of crap really bothers me.  I don't for the life of me understand how people cope with these kinds of things.  I mean, they're usually a total mystery to me and I assume they are to other people too.

Back to the pictures, I've uploaded seveal new 'batches' in the last few weeks...........a 'batch' being defined usually as one weekend's worth. 

I'm doing a handful of videos and one picture right now which happen to be pictures I took a week or so ago when I went down to my new school in Suwon to actually sign the contract.  It's really a nice school......i.e. the facility itself.

Where can you get interesting content for your site or blog?

If you have a blog or website you probably have wondered what you can do to make it interesting.  Did you know there are several sites, sources and ways you can get good content and information for your site?

www.twing.com is one of them.  It's self explanitory.  Check it out.  I know a few others somewhat similar too.  I'll eventually get around to writing about them but if you'd like to know, just send me a email and I'll let you know right away.

Dean Hunt has a nice website

I've always agreed with the premise that people appreciate 'out-of-the-ordinary'.  Or perhaps I should say that unique people appreciate 'out-of-the-ordinary'.  And Dean Hunt qualifies on both counts.....he is unique and he is out-of-the-ordinary.

And very possibly, if I Google 'out-of-the-ordinary' tomorrow morning, I'll be #1 in the results for the phrase "out-of-the-ordinary".  But I digress.

Dean Hunt really does have an interesting blog.  And tonight I discovered something I didn't know about him.  For some reason I assumed he lived in California.  With all the other tree huggers and nuts and fruitcakes.  But tonight I learned that he lives in Spain.

Wow!  Way cool!

I wish my blog was as cool as his.  It almost is.  But not quiet. 

I think we need more blogs like his and mine.  Blogs that aren't afraid to project some personality, some whackiness and be 'out-of-the-ordinary'.

Check out Dean's blog at www.deanhunt.com .

p.s. My interview went well today.  It's a really nice school, only 85 students but with excellent facilities and what seem like a very enthusiastic and well behaved group of students.  It's at a place called Yangpyeong......about an hour from Seoul by train.  I might be starting there as early as late December 08.

Twiddla and PhoneFromHere

I found two new web tools tonight.  One is called Twiddla.com and the other is called PhoneFromHere.com.

 

They're both very nice although I'm not sure that I see any immediate or widely applicable application to the salsa business.  Nevertheless I think they're something ya'll (all 16 of you!) should know about.

 

PhoneFromHere has excellent quality, it's totally free to use and there's no (yes.....None, zip, zero, nada, zilch, not any) downloads involved.  You just use it if and when you want to.

 

Twiddla is also free.  It actually has several of the features of the VoIP conference rooms that I've talked about a lot in the past, but it's totally free, requires no downloads at all, and in some ways simpler to use.

 

Again, I don't see any applications in the salsa business but maybe you might.  Let me know if you do, OK?

 

(Note:  PhoneFromHere is a component of Twiddla.)

Invitation to a 'Open House TalkShoe/WanderingSalsero' call Monday

Here's your 'heads up!' and invitation to join me and whoever else turns up on a coference call I'm doing in a few hours on TalkShoe.

TalkShoe.com is probably the foremost online 'community' call network in the US.  The technology works very well and TalkShoe is used by a wide variety of business and social groups.  I've used it before too......but not as much as I'd like too.

I'm planning a call for just a few hours from now.  It's Monday morning, almost noontime, here in Korea right now.  I've scheduled the call for 8 P.M. my time.  That will be Monday morning 10 A.M. (CST) in the US.  You can figure it out from there. 

In some cases you might have got an invitation so you'll already have some info.  If you go to Talkshoe and look for my 'show', the best way to find my page is :

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/43846

You could also probably find it by looking up 'wanderingsalsero'.  But the direct show ID is the best. 

You won't see it actually scheduled because, as near as I can tell, their scheduling software doesn't have any time conversion function and won't interpret the time differences if you're outside the US (like I am over here in Korea).  The "show ID" is 43846 and the  show title is ESL Adventure in Korea.

So I'll just have to tell you that it's Monday, 10 a.m., CST in the US.  If you're elsewhere you can figure it out yourself.

TalkShoe has it's on internal VoIP telephone mechanism which you'll see as soon as you visit the site.  You don't have to download anything.  It's not super simple but it's not all that hard either.

I think you'll like the technology as it has a lot of untapped uses for anyone in either the recruiting business or the salsa business.

I look forward to seeing some of my friends and acquaintances.