Monday Rant: Soundbites

I do not like soundbites. I do not like trying to compress a complex idea down to a simple statement. A paragraph is not enough to convey a description of my work, or my hobby, or any other significant portion of my life; never mind a single sentence.

I was invited to submit a "Frostbyte" to the organizers of the Montreal 2012 IPY conference that I will be attending in April. I tried to put together my 60-seconds of self-promotion, but failed; that taste in my mouth is familiar, it tastes like faillure. This is a small thing, in many ways (of course). I spent perhaps an hour, maybe an hour and a half in total working on my Frostbyte, with about 60 seconds of me talking and a handful of pictures to accompany. But, listening again to my audio, I realized I was talking too fast (anyone who knows me is currently nodding their heads at this news), but there was no part of what I was saying I could delete and retain a coherent, useful description of the work I will present, in 900 seconds rather than 60, on April 26. So I deleted the files.

If the organizers choose to berate me at the conference for not participating, I'll be able to brush them off. My work and my skill sets are not suited to such little blitherings.