Dan Kyles' Blog

Inspiration

Dan Kyles — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:09:38 +0000

You know what? Even if someone were to entirely fabricate this story, even if it all was to have come from imagination, even if it was just a thought… it would still be true. What I mean by that is, it’s the heart. This video itself is a reflection of something very very true.

Word Clouder

Dan Kyles — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:29:42 +0000

For those who are interested, my soundtrack for writing this blog was 1000 Oceans (by Tori Amos), sung by the PS22 Kids.

Love it.

This has been around for some time, but I hadn’t used it until this morning. Wordle is a website that takes any text you enter (copypaste), and generates a word cloud from it.

When studying a text, one of the things you do is observation. You sit, observe the text, and note the salient points. Normally this would take a while; Wordle’s great help. To grab an example, I’ll use a book I’m loving right now: Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. I cranked it through Wordle, and here’s the result:

Word Cloud of Ephesians

Well, it’s the Bible, so the most used words aren’t surprising. Here’s what I see:

‘One’

We have one leader, one God, one Father. We all have the same hope, the same faith.
Why divide things?

’May’

Desiring an outcome. Looking forward to see something good coming. Wishing that they might see, and know, and be encouraged.

What a great way to pull the themes out of the passage! It resonated with what I’d picked up when reading it.

Funny things I’ve seen

Dan Kyles — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:17:56 +0000

Yesterday

A bus shoots past me. On the back there’s one of those regulation ‘Emergency Exit’ signs, in the perfect position for blocking key words in the billboard.
“Now you _ have to leave the place you are to get the things you want.” – Mall ad. Wow, great.
Unorthodox sign on mailbox. “We ♥ junkmail… It’s the only mail we get!”. Honesty is important!

Today

A couple in their seventies drives past in a Mitsubishi Evo 5. I grin and laugh, they’re doing the classic “I think we should go that way” “Let’s just consult the map” thing. The massive spoiler on the back, a delicious counterpoint.

Anything caught your attention in the past few days?

Edit:

Update – I saw the bus again, and it actually says “Now you _ have to leave the place you love to get the things you want.”
Even better.

How a computer works.

Dan Kyles — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:51:10 +0000

How does a computer work?

Don’t run away! This is easy, stimulating and informative!

In two minutes, you’ll know how a computer actually works. I kid you not. It’s rediculously simple when you get to the bottom of it.

You’ll read this and it will improve the way you think. No longer will computers just be a biege box — input in, output out.

There will be no jargon, as there doesn’t actually need to be.

A computer has two things: Instructions and memory; Both of those words are used just like we use them in everyday life.

A set of Instructions – commands, a recipe.
Memory – A place to store facts. Facts can be recalled later on.

Two things that a computer has...

Instructions and memory.

It has two things, and does two things.

adds or subtracts data from memory.
jumps to a specific instruction (if a certain condition is true or false)

So we have a list of instructions, and some of them tell us to add or subtract, and some of them tell us just to go to other instructions.

That’s it.

Here’s an example that adds two numbers. 5, and whatever’s in A.

Adding 5 to memory location A

Here’s a more complicated example, it multiplies 5 to whatever’s in B:

Multiplying whatever's in B, with 5.

This is really useful, because even if it was a huge number in B, the answer would come out correct in A. (after a while)

It turns out that every computation possible can be broken down to simple steps like this.

And herein ends today’s lesson awesomeness.

What refreshes?

Dan Kyles — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:17:42 +0000

What relaxes?

“What makes you relax?” James asks.

I didn’t know the answer to that. Leaning back in the sofa with my coffee, my eyes scan the far wall.

“I don’t really know…” I reply after a while.

“Man, it’s real easy to just… waste the time that we have off –” James continued – ” and after it all, we’re tired. Watcha got planned so far?”

It’s early, and my head’s foggy. I take another sip of coffee… oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. ”Well… I think we’re pushing hospital beds on Friday, and going to the Beamish’s on Saturday night. Ambs is working Saturday.”

“You should talk about it with Ambs, get on the same page, you know? That way you can be intentional about your free time. When Trina and I go on holiday, if we haven’t talked about it, we’re always at each other; wondering what the other wants to do, if this is organised, or if we know when another thing is happening. Get on the same page, be intentional about what you get up to over Easter. Think about what makes you feel refreshed, and do that.”

–

Wow, present tense, the active voice, writing as if we were all there! So much weirder to write in. Definitely makes it harder, because you feel you’re mis-quoting!

A conversation like the one above has been making me think about doing some recreation this weekend. You know, re-creation. When you feel a bit newer.

I still don’t really know what makes me feel refreshed. I think it entirely depends on the time and place.

However, I’ve been thinking about it, and here are a few things that get close:

Having friends over and playing XBox.
Going for a scooter around the town belt, in the sun, in a t-shirt.
Sitting outside in the sun with an espresso, and bacon and eggs.
Reading a good book on the couch with the heater on (when it’s cold out)
Winning any game that I’m playing (Losing has the opposite effect. Might not be an option)
Spending time with my parents up in Wanaka.
Sitting out under the stars in the spa.
Any peaceful time where I’m chilling out and I don’t have to be working.
Spending time playing my guitar.
Having stimulating conversations at coffee shops with great friends.
Having had exercise.

I don’t think I can rely on it being sunny and warm tonight

I think the environment is a big part of it for me. Not being cold, those around me being relaxed, everyone who is present is “present”. I like peace, and I don’t like being lethargic.

Well, that’s a pretty good start anyways!

What refreshes you? I think I’ll pass on the challenge to y’all. Have an Easter break with purpose, don’t just let it go past without you noticing.

Take the chance to get to know Jesus better too ;D

The moment before…

Dan Kyles — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:25:03 +0000

Things that I like:

I like the moment before the hot tap goes really hot, and the perfect temperature water is flowing over your hands, warming them on a cold morning.
I like the moment before the sun is fully up, and it starts lancing across the sky in gold.

I like the moment before a really good friend gets one of my jokes.
I like the moment before I sip my morning coffee, and that rich smell is rising on the steam.
I like the moment before my wife recognises me when she’s looking for me in a crowd.
I like the moment before pulling out of a turn on a jetski, when I still think I’m going to wipe out.
I liked the moment before my fiancee came up the aisle.
I like the moment before the alarm goes off, when I know it’s sunny and that life is good (when I look across, that’s when I know).
I like the moment before my mind recognises a song, when my heart already has.
I like the moment before I finish a good book, when the final words are finishing with a crescendo of eucatastrophe.

What about you, what moments do you all enjoy?

Eyes Shut Vision.

Dan Kyles — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:24:41 +0000

Blogging

So here I am blogging again. I’ve been off blogging for a while now, I was busy making the finishing touches on lighting an environment. That might not mean much to most of you, but it’s about making something similar to the pictures that you see below.

Lighting in the Salon.

The main cutting station.

Focus

For the last few weeks all I could think of was how light affected the colour of the environment, the way it’s slightly darker in the corners of the room, ceiling and walls. (It is! check this now…) The way that some shadows fade out very slowly, and some cause a very sharp line… The way that light permeates a room, even though direct light only hits one part of a room. I’d be lying in bed, struggling to keep my mind focused on what Amber was talking about, how her day had gone, with my mind trying to get me to look at the different parts of the room; working out what the contribution of different light sources there was.

It’s good to finish up, and be free of that. Not that it was a bad thing, but it’s what I could see when I closed my eyes.

Vision

The old student pastor at SouthLife, John, used to ask us what we see when we closed our eyes. I think he was trying to get us to think about what we were passionate about – to provoke us to be passionate about something. I don’t think I’m passionate about virtual 3D lighting, but there’s a link between passion and what you see when you close your eyes.

Immersion

When I was 16, I made a really good friend. His name was Tom, and he loved Computer Games as much as I did. I remember when the Playstation2 came out, in all its expensive glory. Tom and I excitedly rented a console from the local video store, playing the original Timesplitters for at least 10 hours without a break. I went off to bed that night with some ingrained images behind my eyelids. I swear that I could actually control it just like a game; I lay there, playing through whole levels. I kid not.

When we’re immersed in something, it becomes all we can see; And we tend to immerse ourselves in things that we’re passionate about. When I ponder the things that I see with shut eyes, I think I’d like to change what I’m immersed in. I’d like to see noble things, inspiring things.

Anyway, I must go. I have to go immerse myself with awesome.

Rainforest

Dan Kyles — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:40:40 +0000

So, with all this Slash & Burn nomadic farming, oil extraction, logging, mining, fires, war, pasture-making etc… Rainforests are disappearing. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with losing some trees, mushrooms, and annoying insects?

Well, throw in losing things like erosion prevention (who wants to lose 140 tonnes of topsoil per hectare per year? Yay!) local flood control, filtering water, and reducing forest fires (slightly counter-intuitive)

So ignoring the global effects (which is getting annoyingly hard to do), deforestation is a bad thing long term.
But what if there was a way to grow it back?

What if it wasn’t entirely reversible?

If there was place that has annual sweeping forest fires (like South Australia), where people spend a fifth of their income on water, a biological desert, where only a few species of bird remain, a few species of hardy grasses, and barely any insects…

What if you could re-grow it?

What if you could — in a 2000ha area — restore the micro-climate, plant a fire preventative strip of trees, increase humidity 10%, cloud-cover 11%, rainfall by 25%, have 1650 species of plant, 9 species of primates, 137 species of birds, fungi and bacteria natural nutrient cycle restored, temperature reduced by 3-5 degC, a place that has Pineapples, Beans, and Ginger. Tappable sugar palm firebreaks that would give income to 650 families, producing Biofuel energy and local generation of ethanol fuel. If this was set up to be hard-to-corrupt, a transparent local accountability.

If it was able to be replicated, if it was sustainable, profitable and scalable… What would we do with it, would it be worth the world attempting in many many places?

These guys did it.

http://www.ted.com/talks/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest.html

Engage

Dan Kyles — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:33:57 +0000

Wrestling

… I love it. Not where you dress in a weird leotard and get sweaty in a gymnasium. Not where you jump overboard into the billabong, taking down a dangerous croc. But I love to wrestle with thoughts: ideas and concepts… It’s not a warm fuzzy love; not the type that makes you feel good, good like staring out to a sunny dawn, standing next to the heater with a cup of hot chocolate. Mmm… chocolate (drool). It’s the more complicated, frustration-filled joy of engaging with life. The one that makes you feel you’re a well oiled gear in the engine, rather than a gear that collects dust on the garage floor; next to that well used rag… And the spanner. Under the bench. In the dark. Forgotten.
I enjoy being integral, a part of things. I like to own my own thoughts.

And this feeling doesn’t leave me; it’s urging me evermore of the deep, intertwined importance of engaging your brain in the anfractuous matters of faith & life.

Philosophy

… “Are you saying we all go study Philosophy?” you might say.
I’d answer, “I probably definitely maybe think it’s a potential plausibility, but no.”
It might help some people, but do we really need professorships to think critically! (Having said that, a beard, pipe and vest are very dapper. Bonus points for leather patches on elbows…) We all have the permission we need to find our own way forward. Let’s search out a good way eh?

Disengaging

…from the world around me is like taking a step backwards, and falling out of a movie screen. I can still see life going by, but I’m powerless to change anything. I scream for the hero to stand up and defeat the enemy, but as the scenes flicker by, I – with all my bluster – can effect nothing… Like a giant scroll unravelling, life rolls on. Life becomes other people’s fault.

Someone should really fix that.

Someone ought to have a word to that person, they’re out of control.

Someone round here should really to go get a fire extinguisher, it’s getting warm.

The pastor really ought to sort that out.

Enthusiasm

…is smashed when people lean back, quit conversing, and begin pre-rejecting opinions…
But it’s a continual joy when my friends are passionate about what they’re doing! I love to see the crazy look in their eyes when excited about the next adventure. By acting, they stoke the fire within themselves. I love to see them tend their passions, looking for solutions, not criticising others. When I get around people like this, I start to believe that I can be like them too.

Perspective

Dan Kyles — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:21:15 +0000

Often we don’t see wonder.

Today is a grey day outside. Yet, when I walked to work there was magic all around me, and I missed it.

We often miss it.

What takes precedence? What is it that makes us think that this world that we live in is something that is dull and depressing? What is it that makes us want to escape, to live in another world? One where magic is real; “The things that we always dreamt of, dreams really do come true”?

Consider what is happening now.

Yes, right now.

Writing is wonderful.

I typed words, words that jumped out of my head and were plastered on this medium. It is a transfer of ideas from my head to yours (don’t be too freaked out!) You’re connecting, learning about a personality in the past. (12pm on a Friday in February to be precise!)

Words have the ability to reach through time and connect with someone already passed on… They let your ancestors speak to you, and allow you to speak deep into the distant future. They are as great as the wildest creations of Science fiction and the imaginations of fantasy; but we gloss over it in our supposedly bleak everyday reality. Something wonderful is happening when a word is read. Death’s grip is ever so slightly weakened whenever The Odyssey, The Bible, or Shakespeare’s works are read.

We may well wonder when Dumbledore puts his wand to his temple, and draws out a memory, places it into a Pensive to allow others to experience his memories… but we also have a similarly powerful magic!

The only limits we have are our own powers of description, things that can be learned and improved. Many children devoured the Harry Potter series, enjoying the escapism and wonder; How many also wanted fantasy to be reality? How many would jump at the chance, even if it required a remarkable strength of will? If it took sweat and practice, training and study? Imagine teachers, able to communicate the mysterious wonder in even the most simple of tasks, moments and characters. These things that our God has gifted to us: we nonchalantly walk past every day.

Is it merely our perspective that prevents us from looking around in wonder? The miracle never disappears, yet it strikes us when we find what was there all along! Take magic of Human Flight, about which many authors looked skywards, their hearts yearning to soar. Enter Icarus and the Giant Roc, both with wings that would carry humans heavenward. Yet we complain when made to wait for 20min when our flight is delayed…

Help others see wonder.

Writing is on the brink of being cool beyond our comprehension, but it fades into our everyday. Convey the wonder that comes to you. Remind each-other of perspective today. Attempt to express any wonder or perspective your encounter in life. I might not notice or appreciate bugs or insects, but to someone else they might be tiny creatures of absolute astonishment and fascination; Insects who’s intricate webs, joints, patterns and behaviours astound. Through someone else, I might begin to taste and see the spectacle around me. Others might need a leg up, a helping hand, to see that which amazes us. Help others to see from your perspective.