Spiral Light Candle's New Amazon.com Photos

Spiral Light Candle's storefront on Amazon.com has new/updated photos now: Spiral Light Candle Corp. Storefront.

I'd taken the original photos, some months ago: with a somewhat less-than-top-end camera. It was high time we get something better to show off the spiral-burning candles.

I've posted this half-size video before. If you're in a place where background sounds are a factor, take note - the video comes with music. No words, though:
"Spiral Light's Spiral Burning Self Filling Candle"



(shown half-size: full version at YouTube)
anoasisproduction, YouTube (July 28, 2011)
video, 1:31

Now, the obligatory 'for more information' contact stuff:

• Spiral Light Candle Corporation
  (spirallightcandle.com)
  P.O. Box 868, Hillsboro, ND 58045
  (701) 425-0682
  info@spirallightcandle.com
  • Spiral Light's Spiral Burning Self Filling Candle
    (also on YouTube)
  • Brocuhre (pdf)

Somewhat-related posts:

• ""A Candle With a Twist" at Grand Forks Trade Show"
  (November 18, 2011)
• "Spiral Light Candles in Hillsboro, North Dakota"
  (November 9, 2011)
• "Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show: Second Morning on the Floor"
  (August 4, 2011)

Well, That's Interesting: YouTube Woes and Vimeo

Before anyone has a stroke: I don't have an opinion on YouTube's actions, regarding WatchReport. Like the fellow said, "I only know what I read in the papers." Or, in this case, online:

"YouTube's Community Police Blow Up Another Innocent Victim"
John Biggs, TechCrunch (December 3, 2010)

"Call me cynical, but after experiencing a YouTube shutdown firsthand, I've come to realize that it is near impossible to build a stable brand or presence on YouTube. The gatekeepers are far too antsy with the big red ban button and, after facing this problem once when CrunchGear's entire video archive was shut down I'm loathe to recommend the service to those trying to post anything other than the occasional video of baby ducklings being blown over.

"WatchReport, a watch website I used to frequent, started posting watch reviews on YouTube in 2005. Over the past five years they racked up two million views and 2000 subscribers on 50 reviews. Then all of the videos were gone.

"On November 23 the account was locked 'due to multiple or severe violations of our Community Guidelines,' which would presumably include 'no sex, nudity, hate speech, shock videos, illegal acts, threats, impersonation, or copyright violation.' These were watch videos and the former owner of WatchReport, Christian, definitely didn't impersonate anyone in the nude...."

"...The lesson? Depend on someone like Vimeo for hosting important stuff. Otherwise it could be taken away at a moment's notice...."

I can tell that Mr. Biggs is disappointed: and regards Vimeo as preferable to YouTube.

This account got me curious about YouTube's TOS: Which weren't all that hard to find. (www.youtube.com/t/terms) The Community Guidelines were linked in that page's sidebar. (www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines) Maybe someone thought WatchReport was too spammy.

But, like I said: I really don't know the facts in this case.

On the other hand, I now know the name of another YouTube wannabe. Or maybe I should say "analog."

Related posts:

• "Well, That's Interesting: Ustream Producer"
  (February 1, 2010)
• "Experiment in Progress: YouTube Video to Advertise Blog"
  (February 14, 2009)
• "That's My Son-In-Law Who's Doing That!"
  (April 2, 2010)

That's My Son-In-Law Who's Doing That!

Three years ago this June, I posted "Hiring Relatives and the Chinese Business Model." It was a sort of good news/bad news look at the potentials and perils of working with relatives.

In America, nepotism has a bad reputation - it's something that many companies specifically forbid. For good reason, I think: too many nitwit brothers-in-law and incompetent cousins can ruin morale and wreck a company.

On the other hand, having relatives work in the family business works pretty well among people with a Chinese cultural background - and in my family.

My oldest daughter and I have cooperated on a few projects - successfully, I think - and now I'm doing a little work for my son-in-law. He's the Executive Producer of Oasis Productions: and is managing production of "Art of Serenity: A Journey of Faith." (anoasisproduction, YouTube (February 23, 2010), video 4:13.)

We touched base earlier today: work on the documentary is on schedule. It's coming out by the end of August, 2010. Barring something like a Haiti-level disaster here in central North America.

He also set me up with an email service that'll allow us to exchange decent-size files. As a sort of test of the system, he sent me photos of the new office and workroom of Oasis Productions. These are scaled-down copies:


Video editing - the computer's doing the work at this point. April, 2010.

I'll want to ask - but I suspect the lighting is a little contrived in this photo. The lighting isn't quite that dramatic.


Production / editing area, Oasis Productions. April, 2010.

That's my daughter, at the editing station. There'd been discussion of my doing at least some of that work: but she's got transferable skills - and she's on-site, so it's her job now.

Like I said, family businesses can work well or fail spectacularly. It depends on the family. I think we'll do okay.

Well, That's Interesting: Ustream Producer

My son introduced me to Ustream Producer today. From the marketing video, it looks like the best thing since sliced bread.

Ustream is the service I use to get my webcam's streaming video online.

What Ustream has to say about Producer:

"The Ustream Producer is a desktop application allowing broadcasters to stream in high quality, just like they would from Ustream's website."

The free version:

• Supports one camera
• Allows importing movies and audio
• Enables up to three transitions
• Supports picture in picture/co-hosting
• Provides screen capture feature
• SD bitrate support
• H264 Flash 9 video
• Upgrade Producer to Producer Pro for a simple, one-time fee

(Ustream Producer promo page)

Like I said, it looks good. But it also will take system resources: which I don't have in overabundance. Still, I'll be thinking about how I could use the software.

Experiment in Progress: YouTube Video to Advertise Blog

I've been thinking of doing something like this: but one of my BlogCatalog neighbors did it first:

"Promoting Blog Through Youtube"
BlogCatalog discussion, (started December 27, 2008)

I hope jjmezzio doesn't base his go/nogo decision solely on what BlogCatalogers say, but asking for - and paying attention to - that sort of feedback seems like a good idea.

The basic notion, using a YouTube video to promote a blog, look very attractive.

Just one problem, for me: I'd have to make a viewable, appealing, video.

Equipment, Maintenance, and Backup

I spent part of this afternoon get getting my 'main' digital camerIa back. It had been 'in the shop' in Alexandria (Computer Specialists: where my last computer was built,and where I take devices for repair).

Good news: it seems to be in working order.

Not-so-good news: video I took, of a lesson one of my daughters gave, is probably unrecoverable.

I learned something from the experience, though. The video probably got corrupted because I made a continuous recording, over a half hour long. That's very likely too long for the storage technology I'm using.

Live and learn.

I plan to use the (corrupted?) files as practice pieces for recovering video data.

While I was in Alexandria (the nearest larger town - about 8,000 people: about 20 miles down the road), I got a "4-port hub" for a USB port. I'm planning to enhance a Web page. More about that later.

Faced with no usable camera for a few days, I stared thinking about how sensible it might be to have backup equipment on hand.

On the one hand, with redundant equipment, I'd be able to keep projects, and updates, going without interruption.

On the other hand, that redundant equipment costs money: which is a scarce commodity here.

Looks like I'll be repairing and replacing equipment on an as-needed basis.