Teaching a Class today

Today I'm teaching a class that I'm excited about, it's called
"Hacking your Mac for Academic Research".
I've been looking forward to this one, it's focusing on Word 2008 for Mac and Endnote integration, the new program called "Papers" for finding research on the web, and a lot of other tips and tricks I've learned while conducting research. All together we'll focus on:

Word 2008
Endnote X1
Iclip
Copypaste Pro
Papers
Skitch
DevonAgent

I've got a Powerpoint, I'll throw it in the downloads section.
I've been busy but as soon as I finish a big project this week I'll start with the video screencast tutorials of some of these great apps!

Until next time :)

Test of MarsEdit

It has been a very exciting few months in Seattle. Just on the software front, I've discovered Screenflow, very powerful screencasting software, DevonThink Pro Office for scanning and achieving the goal of a paperless office, and MarsEdit, for blogging! These three packages are simply amazing. I'm teaching a course on using macs for academic research in August, and I will create screencasting tutorials then.

Net Neutrality Concerns Increase

This is my first entry into the new website blog. I have been trying to make a site for quite some time and have finally felt comfortable enough with the software to begin. It is my hope that this site will generate interest in my projects and put me in touch with individuals and groups sharing similar interests and goals, facilitating collaboration.
Please feel free to contact me using the 'contact' page!
This site will become a central hub for my projects, and will eventually host audio, video, and the webstore. The podcasts will also be hosted on this page. Enjoy!
-Tim

Arctic Sovereignty Debate

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/05/28/arctic-nations.html?ref=rss

Arctic nations will 'follow the rules' in North Pole sovereignty debate.

I am concerned about this Arctic development, as the ‘rules’ that will be followed will invariably be concerned with the economic developing of the signing nations at the expense of the natural resources, culture and environment of the Inuit.

It goes without saying that this land is the hunting ground of the Inuit people.

The main explanation for development in the region is summarized here:

“Interest in the region is intensifying because global warming is shrinking the polar ice, and that could someday open up resource development and new shipping lanes. A U.S. study suggests the region may hold 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas”.

Although Canada signed the treaty I am interested in whether the Inuit delegation, including the Makivik Corporation in Nunavik, are involved in this treaty. I will investigate.

Tim Pasch

Update

It has been a while since my last entry, work on the dissertation is progressing well, and I am working on a publication opportunity with Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, director of the Center for Information Assurance here at the UW.
Life in Seattle is excellent, the rains are slowing and spring is definitely here. The possibilities with technology are vast here in the Pacific Northwest.
My concerns for the environment continue to grow, and the prices of gasoline continue to climb, which is definitely a blessing in disguise.
On the technology front I am running VMware Fusion in a Macbook Pro, for the first time using WIndows successfully inside a UNIX system.
I have created a working partition of Ubuntu Linux and am exploring there. The most exciting thing is that I can now run SPSS, Nvivo and Eviews in a Windows Partition on my Mac, making research seamless and preparation for publication much more streamlined. This is a great thing as my life right now is all about publications!
Otherwise, family life is great and I must stay focused on writing the dissertation- it seems endless but slow progress is the key.

Conference a success!

The conference was a success. I was very impressed by the experiences of the panelists. Mark Stenge in particular spoke eloquently about the plight of the Marshall islands and all those who live on atolls. Global warming and climate change is affecting us all so far, however for the Inuit and those living closer to the land, the impact is felt much more greatly. Carl Sander from the Burke Museum did a wonderful job organizing, Dr. Stevan Harrell from Anthropology moderated very well, and Terry Williams from the Tulalip Nation brought everything full circle with his powerful teachings concerning the importance of respect for our watershed and realizing that we are all still connected to the Earth- no matter how little some of us may still be aware of it. Qingxia Yang from Tibet spoke of the changes in her native region since her childhood, and they have been dramatic indeed. I am putting my Keynote slide presentation in the downloads section for archival, please feel free to take a look.

New site is up.

My main site is now officially up! The address is
www.timpasch.com
I will be continuing my blog there, however thanks to a new program called MarsEdit I hope to be able to post the blogs here on blogger as well as on my site.
I have been lazy about writing lately however now I hope to begin 2008 with newly inspired writing.
As I have a dissertation to finish I will be writing non-stop...perhaps this practice will assist in motivating me to start early every morning!

Focus the Nation Conference tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Focus the Nation conference at the University of Washington. This is a big event for us at the UW- we are joining over 1000 other campuses in our discussion and search for solutions to Global Warming and it's repercussions. I will be presenting at this conference specifically about the impact of climate change on Canada's Northern Communities. It promises to be an important day for Climate change awareness nationally. I've dropped the program for the UW in the downloads section.

Site is up!

Well, I finally was successful in uploading the site today. This was not an easy task, and after the site posted, there was a whole series of technical issues to work through. While there are still so many details that I am not happy with, at least the structure of the site is in place, and I can add edits later.
Today, in addition to working on the site, I was attempting to overclock my main studio computer. This is an art form, as I discovered, and there is a whole litany of tricks, techniques and equipment designed to achieve this goal of getting more speed than you should out of a computer. Unfortunately I pushed things a little too far and for a while I felt like I had destroyed everything. It turns out that I lost a hard drive however.
Luckily it wasn't a critical one and I should be able to restore most of the data. I learned my lesson though- no more overclocking for the time being.

First Entry

This is my first entry into the new website blog. I have been trying to make a site for quite some time and have finally felt comfortable enough with the software to begin. It is my hope that this site will generate interest in my projects and put me in touch with individuals and groups sharing similar interests and goals, facilitating collaboration.
Please feel free to contact me using the 'contact' page!
This site will become a central hub for my projects, and will eventually host audio, video, and the webstore. The podcasts will also be hosted on this page. Enjoy!
-Tim