Coming soon. Carbon Tax.
One thing I love about Australians is our ability to joke about almost anything.
In Australia we have a government run media group. It’s called the ABC, and it encompasses 4 TV stations, numerous radio stations and an excellent web presence.
On the TV arm there is a news program called 7.30. While this program provides excellent reporting, my highlight of 7.30 is the weekly comedy segment by John Clarke and Brian Dawe, where they make light of recent news topics.
This one is about Australia’s impending carbon tax. You will probably only understand it if you live in Australia.
Driving around Monaco at 270 Km/h
A little while ago I wrote a post about F1, and how much I love it.
This is another reason I love it. Sebastian Vettel flying around the streets of Monaco.
Have a watch if you want. It’s amazing.
Video: ‘Scars’ by Dan Stevers
I love finding good videos in the web. I also love it when I find a good video that is about christianity, and even better when that video is about Jesus. Dan Stevers continues to deliver great videos about both of these things.
Check this one out. It is called ‘Scars’.
Scars from DanStevers.com on Vimeo.
So you want to convert a video.
“Hey Tim, I’m going on a trip overseas and I have some videos that I want to convert so that I can play them on my iPad.”
“Hey Mate, I have an Avi file that I need to convert so that it will work in a powerpoint im giving in 30 mins. Can you help?!”
“I have an XBOX, and apple TV, an iPad and a Galaxy Tablet. How can I get my videos on all of these devices?”
These are all questions that I regularly get asked. The second issue is the most pressing, and the most stressful for people. Mainly because of the time constraints associated.
Thankfully I’ve been able to help everyone that has ever asked me for assistance. This is mostly because, in my last job I had to be responsible for the weekly organisation and production of video for a church in Sydney. While there were many aspects of the ‘video’ side of my job, one thing that I had to get sorted was the conversion of video.
I work on a mac, and for the first half of last year I had to make content that would work on a mac (Keynote), a PC (powerpoint) and also for the web.
All of these platforms require different things from video. Keynote will play most things (because it gets it’s codecs from quicktime. A plugin called ‘Perian‘ makes this possible), powerpoint is mostly useless (because with each version microsoft change what type of video it supports. Why do they love ‘wmv’ so much?) and video for the web have their own needs.
I came up with a few awesome tools that would let me convert videos into whatever format I needed. Most of these were free, and they all did an ok job. In these free versions there would always be some kind of bug associated with a particular video format. For example, handbrake stopped supporting .AVI and Evom never quite did an .MP4 video properly.
Recently I decided that if I wanted to find an app that will be able to do everything well, I would probably need to pay for it. In my searching I found a brilliant app that could do everything perfectly. It’s called Permute, and it is properly brilliant. All you do is drop the video into the app, select which output you want, and it quickly converts the video for you. Simple. It’s really quick too, and you can can convert batches of videos, saving you a whole heap of time.
If you need to convert videos to play on your different devices. Give permute a try. You can download a trial from their website, and you can buy it on the Mac AppStore for under $20. Bargin!
Video: Meet Glencore
I am an extremely privileged person. I live in Australia.
Not that living in Australia is reason enough to feel privileged. But reasonable health care, electricity, a car to drive around in and having plenty of food to eat contribute to provide an environment in which I am both well looked after and equally ignorant about where all these things come from. I’m also ignorant about the processes and companies that provide all of this for us.
Recently I spotted this video about a company called Glencore. It kind of shocked me.
Glencore from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.
1 Timothy 2:1-7 – Edwin Ngubane
Last weekend at church we had the pleasure of having a brother from Africa come and preach. His name is Edwin Ngubane, and he is a bishop in the Anglican Church in South Africa.
He has a truly amazing life story, and an even more amazing story of how he came to believe in Christ. You can learn more about him in this video.
From ancestors to Jesus from Sydneyanglicans.net on Vimeo.
He preached the second sermon in our series on prayer from Paul’s first letter to Timothy, the specific section was chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. He was challenging us to think about how, People in the household of God, should act. I found it to be a really helpful sermon, so I thought I would share it.
He also challenged Kirsty and I to think about going to work with him in ministry to students in South Africa. He told me that Moore really should set up an exchange program with GWC. Cheeky.
Ayrton Senna da Silva
I love Formula 1. Most weekends between March and November you can find me glued to the TV and my computer, for live pictures and live timing till 1 in the morning.
There are lots of reasons that I love Formula 1. The engineering and ingenuity that goes into making a Formula 1 car, the incredible speed that these cars can achieve and the amazing tracks that these cars drive on. While all these things have drawn me to Formula 1, there is one main reason while I love this sport.
His name is Senna, or, Ayrton Senna da Silva if you like long names. Senna was the greatest Formula 1 driver in history. I would of loved to see him race, but sadly he was killed when I was still a young kid, on the 1st of May in 1994.
Last year Top Gear did an awesome tribute to him, and next month a documentary will be coming out about him.
Below is the Top Gear tribute, watch it if you want to get a glimpse into why I love F1 so much. Anyone want to come to see the documentary with me?
[UPDATE] – Added a longer version of the video. (Don’t mind the bit at the beginning, vimeo went mental.)
Video: How Green Is Your Internet?
This week in Australian politics has seemed to revolve around the environment. More specifically it has been about an Emissions Trading Scheme.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about it. I’m not going to voice mine here, but I wanted to show a video seeking to answer the question, ‘How Green Is Your Internet?’.
Video: The Fall, by Dan Stevers
Recently at Church and College we did a series in the book of Genesis. I preached on the city of babel, where God punishes humans for wanting to be independent from him and independent from relying on him for everything that they needed to live.
One of the main events of the book of Genesis is the moment that sin entered the world. This is a brilliant video from Dan Stevers about the events of the fall. Have a look, i thinks it’s pretty cool.
Video: Sermon Jam, John Piper style.
I love the work that John Piper has done for the christian community all over the world. His clarity and insight into the scriptures have helped countless generations of Jesus’ followers love and follow Christ more earnestly.
Not to mention his generosity in setting up Desiring God, who give alot of resources away for absolutely nothing. Check them out.
John is coming to speak in Sydney over the next couple of months, and I’m really looking forward to it.
But before he gets here, check out this video.
Suffering, Exams & A Poker Machine
This post has 3 points,
Point 1. This weekend just past we had our Church Weekend Away. It was a brilliant weekend. We had perfect weather, great accommodation (Crusaders, Galston), and brilliant speaker (Steve Covetz) and an even more brilliant topic (Suffering and the Sovereignty of God). Ill post some of my thoughts after the events of point 2 are completed.
Point 2. This week exams have started at college. Today, us first years had greek. Personally I’m glad it is finished. In 4 days ill be on holidays.
Point 3. During exams I find it really easy to get distracted, so here is a video about Poker Machines. Watch it, than get back to work.
Video: Jamie Oliver on children and food
KIrsty and I are big on eating good food and having a good knowledge of the food that we eat.
This is partly due to a recent inspiration I have felt from Jamie Oliver. I pretty much love everything he does, mostly because his attitude to food does not associate all the pomp and ridiculousness that others do. Yes, I hate Masterchef.
Recently I have discovered the need for using facts to influence my decisions.
This video influenced me, watch it.
The Beast File: Apple
I love stuff apple make. My MacBook and iPhone have made my communication much easier that it would of been without them. It also means that I’m on twitter and facebook more than I should. I love apple because they make software that is really easy to use, and they also make hardware that looks quite nice.
Hungry Beast recently did a Beast File on apple, and I found it to be interesting, so I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy.
Voices of the Cross – A video from danstevers.com
I love great videos. Especially when they communicate something really well. In the lead up to easter i came across this great video by Dan Stevers and his team over at danstevers.com. They do heaps of awesome videos, and everyone they produce seems to get a little better than the last.
Anyway this one is all about easter. Enjoy
