tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-245102522024-03-07T01:58:31.933-08:00towform(yes, it's an acronym)BoRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08015099190775763556noreply@blogger.comBlogger425125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-61397197947969942202022-06-04T13:18:00.000-07:002022-06-04T13:18:56.209-07:00Book Review: L Extreme by JL Civi<p style="text-align: justify;">Bringing the old TOWFORM blog back from the dead for something a little different...</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As a big music fan who also enjoys books, a novel based on an album is an intriguing concept to me. Books regularly get adapted for movies and TV. Musician's back-catalogues get Broadway adaptations. In somewhat rarer cases movies get a tie-in novel and/or adaptation. But music done in book form isn't something I'd heard of before.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When the novel in question is based on my favorite record of all time, you had me at hello.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Novel-Based-Songs-Hughes-ebook/dp/B092SW3QVX/" target="_blank"><i></i></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnK02HmzjldaHLfWfy7iHcOHHkSfZcLp-3V-eLUXeDjv-HxqFCViOcR7XcT7bfjwTlG6zZu6qyRpet9qn_HR9LUtYEm_frABh45dR-1_--DkdYByErWhfZ-J5wKPkTu4itSuXWGOFgMSRJBPiI_ohkLyVef0ISCUrAs1SVHrrXFpByRCJvQ/s3318/IMG_1913.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3318" data-original-width="2418" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnK02HmzjldaHLfWfy7iHcOHHkSfZcLp-3V-eLUXeDjv-HxqFCViOcR7XcT7bfjwTlG6zZu6qyRpet9qn_HR9LUtYEm_frABh45dR-1_--DkdYByErWhfZ-J5wKPkTu4itSuXWGOFgMSRJBPiI_ohkLyVef0ISCUrAs1SVHrrXFpByRCJvQ/s320/IMG_1913.jpeg" width="233" /></a></i></div><i><br />L Extreme</i> by JL Civi is (almost) a song for song adaptation of the album <i><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2zQGpwdvHqZhw2BguUqb18?si=v0Q8fUXVR_y34Y1cuWjWMg">A Love Extreme</a></i> by Benji Hughes, an artist once called "<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2014/04/benji-hughess-infinite-songbook.html">the best songwriter you've never heard of</a>" by Vulture.com. The record is an epic, cross-genre extravaganza mixing beats with ballads in a package best described as goofy yet sincere. Wry lyrical observations, rockers with silly wordplay, love songs that really really nail you and a handful of instrumentals add up to something greater than the sum of its parts.<p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">How the heck do you make a coherent novel out of this? Depends on your definition of coherent...</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Civi takes the blueprint provided by the record to the extreme, dividing the book into 4 parts mirroring the 4 sides of the double vinyl release. (Characters cheekily reference "flipping the record" leading into each side in a way that's not exactly meta but not exactly not.) The result is a non-linear narrative that loops back on itself in a series of dreams, flashbacks and do-overs making the meandering plot hard to follow in the early going until it starts to click together in the second half. Reminds me of the way the tv show <i>LOST</i> would slowly unfurl character backstories with flashbacks that were mostly standalone but also somewhat connected if you paid close attention.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">After a trippy, dreamy opening (that ends with the curiously un-dreamy line "and then I fell asleep"), Side A introduces us to Benji and his roommate C. Benji is estranged from his ex-girlfriend named L (yes, there are 2 characters with single letter names), and C wants to hear the story of how they met to help get them back together. A faithful adaptation of the song "You Stood Me Up" set at a Dairy Queen serves as a McGuffin of a flashback ostensibly kicking off the tale of Benji & L's courtship, but a series of present day events derail a proper origin story and send the roommates down some absurd song-inspired side-quests to decide how loud their jambox stereo is, go undercover on a neighborhood watch mission as trick-or-treaters (not on Halloween) with their mysterious neighbor down the hall that ends with them possibly being chased by a UFO, and ultimately culminates at a Halloween party without invitations (and not on Halloween) Benji can't remember -- which is unfortunate since somebody killed the DJ they hired!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Why can't Benji remember? He had a dream he was Sam Beckett in an amusing tribute/parody of the <i>Quantum Leap</i> episode "The Leap Home" when Sam leaped into himself as a 16 year old. (The tv episode features multiple scenes of Sam running through a cornfield. The song this chapter is based on is an instrumental titled "Cornfields" -- get it? Also, all of the instrumental songs are told as wild, surreal dreams.)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Side B returns to the original "how did Benji & L meet?" question C is so curious about, this time with the song "Where Do Old Lovers Go?" setting up a story of Benji meeting a girl named Jessica in a supermarket who later takes him to a magic show at a funeral. Just when you're getting a feel for the rhythm of the "dream, misadventure, flashback" formula the story takes a massive U-turn with a multi-chapter fantasy infused fairytale featuring Heartman & Songstress, the little woman who lives in Jessica's brain and the little man who lives in her heart.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A reveal I won't spoil here at the end of Side B ties the first two parts together, teeing up more silly song inspired misadventures in the back half that I will minorly spoil to give a flavor for how things almost start to make sense under the circumstances. A previous throwaway reference to the red line on Lloyd Dobler's home stereo in <i>Say Anything</i> sets up Benji holding the aforementioned not-that-loud jambox over his head on L's lawn in an attempt to win her back. That <i>Quantum Leap</i> dream foreshadows AN ENTIRE HIDDEN EPISODE OF QUANTUM LEAP (!!!) in a flashback to the previously unseen Halloween party -- only this time the DJ doesn't die and becomes an important character going forward. By the time the villain from the fairytale (an alien wizard type foe named Evilon from a different Benji Hughes album titled <i>LILILIL) </i>shows up in the "real world" to wreak some havoc you find yourself just rolling with the insanity and rocking out to <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2zQGpwdvHqZhw2BguUqb18?si=v0Q8fUXVR_y34Y1cuWjWMg">the soundtrack</a> to find what comes next -- assuming you stuck around this long. I think it's worth it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsY1kcZmzqrcdcagw-bdfy2BVvSLeO_kdvrTR_enmjr_TNV24LGO7tk6Hxyxmr50uaiCeHV8OwUcKtQy0AMfhNW2HXAPyZhFlqtuKViftqWDnCt00UidPFyffx0-xWpSI6KYw2qgvqVSHQHltWeHnornb2AkvwzpRKm_Wuc2FTA5sc6Wqpjw/s4032/IMG_1907.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsY1kcZmzqrcdcagw-bdfy2BVvSLeO_kdvrTR_enmjr_TNV24LGO7tk6Hxyxmr50uaiCeHV8OwUcKtQy0AMfhNW2HXAPyZhFlqtuKViftqWDnCt00UidPFyffx0-xWpSI6KYw2qgvqVSHQHltWeHnornb2AkvwzpRKm_Wuc2FTA5sc6Wqpjw/w300-h400/IMG_1907.jpeg" title="Lyrical back cover that sort of summarizes the story" width="300" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">The track by track = chapter by chapter stunt gives a reader familiar with the source material some hints at what's to come and might make you smile at the way the lyrics enter but don't quite influence the plot, but this story is a wild trip in and of itself unlike anything you've ever read before. If David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman collaborated on a musical biopic, it might be in the ballpark of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Novel-Based-Songs-Hughes-ebook/dp/B092SW3QVX/" target="_blank">L Extreme</a>.</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Call me biased, but I give it 3 stars in general plus a full bonus star for even attempting to turn a wildly awesome record into an equally wild piece of fan fiction with a satisfying ending for a 4-star total rating.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Novel-Based-Songs-Hughes-ebook/dp/B092SW3QVX/" target="_blank">L Extreme</a></i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;">★★★★☆</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Recommended for the adventurous connoisseur of bizarro fiction, trippy puzzle box films, and/or indie music </span><span style="text-align: left;">(ideally all three)!</span></p><p><i>Jake of All Trades & JL Civi share a brain but are not the same person. Opinions expressed above are from the fan side of the equation only, though there's always risk of some bleedover in these situations.</i></p><p><br /></p>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-11035568403952585022016-09-03T14:17:00.001-07:002016-09-03T14:17:08.815-07:00Atlantic Standard TimeOne potentially small victory versus daylight savings?<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/08/11/time-for-mass-move-new-time-zone/64Q51rTWormBPTH7Ggds2O/story.html">Should Massachusetts switch to Atlantic Standard Time?</a><blockquote>
<br /><i>“I wasn’t prepared for it,” Emswiler said. “I just think it’s miserable when the sun sets at 4 o’clock. . . On a cloudy day, it starts getting dark at 3:50-something.”<br />He eventually penned a column for The Boston Globe in 2014, listing some of the potential benefits of extending Atlantic Standard Time, one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time, through the fall and winter. After all, he argues, we’re already essentially in that time zone for most of the year, through daylight saving time.</i></blockquote>
Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-91217214189333735552016-03-12T14:10:00.001-08:002016-03-12T14:10:23.154-08:00Much Of The World Doesn't Do Daylight Saving Time. How Come?<b class="tr_bq"><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/12/470088302/much-of-the-world-doesnt-do-daylight-saving-time-how-come">Much Of The World Doesn't Do Daylight Saving Time. How Come?</a></b><blockquote>
<br /><b>One More Weird Thing...</b><br />Some places play with time for their own reasons. A resort in Madagascar called Anjajavy wanted the sun to rise later and set earlier, so they created their own time zone — an hour ahead of the rest of Madagascar — for a later sunset hour. Visitors have to change their watches to Anjajavy time. Says the hotel's <a href="http://www.anjajavy.com/en/venir/">website</a>: "A time peculiar to Anjajavy the lodge was created so that we are better adjusted to the natural cycles of the reserve and the village. Therefore, at 5 pm lemurs naturally join us in the Oasis garden to take advantage the foliage. It is fresh hour, right in time for the "5 O'clock tea."</blockquote>
<br />
<i>via <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/12/470088302/much-of-the-world-doesnt-do-daylight-saving-time-how-come">NPR</a></i><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/12/470088302/much-of-the-world-doesnt-do-daylight-saving-time-how-come"> </a>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-30481671056816028022015-10-31T14:53:00.000-07:002015-10-31T14:53:02.996-07:00The Movie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k4EUTMPuvHo/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k4EUTMPuvHo?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-55314928736500469862015-07-13T19:41:00.003-07:002015-07-13T19:41:59.957-07:00Kindred Spirit<a href="http://blog.towform.com/2006/04/standard-daylight-time.html">We</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2007/02/pdt-meets-y2k.html">all</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2008/03/daylight-savings-time-why.html">know</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2009/12/dst-xkcd-style.html">how</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2010/11/some-daylight-card.html">I</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2013/04/coachella-standard-time.html">feel</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2013/11/daylight-parenthetical.html">about</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2013/12/retire-daylight-savings.html">Daylight</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2014/03/daylight-quiz.html">Saving</a> <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2009/03/dst-56-ways.html">Time</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://yates2.com/blog/2011/11/pst-vs-pdt-do-you-know-the-difference/">This guy feels it too</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #133251; font-family: Verdana, Arial, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px;">Often I see folks use an EST or an MST during Daylight Savings Time. It never feels appropriate to explain this to them at the time. So, I’m hoping by explaining it to everyone here that no one ends up feeling singled out or criticized.</span></blockquote>
<br />
Difference is I always feel <a href="http://blog.towform.com/2011/03/semi-annual-andor-sporadic-thoughts-on.html">the need to call people out on it</a> for the betterment of society.Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-5249775695843152112014-03-08T18:00:00.000-08:002014-03-08T18:05:05.456-08:00Daylight QuizI got 80%. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-daylight-saving-time-spring-forward-sunday-20140307,0,5663161.story#axzz2vQVBR8Fj">LA Times: Daylight Saving Time Quiz</a><br />
<br />
(And I really hope double daylight never comes to pass.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.savagechickens.com/2010/11/daylight-saving-time.html"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzVoXNkUsDGc05kRkUTJzV1AqLO8Qx4lI_7Do6gRiuSdCEbl728tdKys3c4iScuPPXmsnyQ4KDFXTfyp3Bjjz0BhSEKcuyJ_08OqGwWTpGCYoh9IqNrtHMUWjzPFPlYJnWvr4H/s1600/chickendaylight.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-63554904714573611952013-12-29T23:20:00.000-08:002014-03-08T18:02:17.123-08:00Retire Daylight Savingsvia <a href="http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/tech/cnn10-ideas/">The CNN 10: Ideas</a><br />
<br />
This gets my vote!<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Yes, we can turn back time. There's a way to end seasonal clock confusion and eliminate jet lag. All it would take is doing away with daylight saving and splitting the continental United States in two time zones: East and West, an hour apart.</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj63LOz8rUKSmLgv6qjYK-g_RZcyiCaWxSkU7DvnIt7qQmfvE4p_Ao-sBLqTKxVgB0DZjRMvWTWQ_mUwZcJpLD1N2E0Vsxp2gni_R01o8j0rwZGSNHVHZRIz6WKl3WUc4UeA3Nk/s1600/time-zones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj63LOz8rUKSmLgv6qjYK-g_RZcyiCaWxSkU7DvnIt7qQmfvE4p_Ao-sBLqTKxVgB0DZjRMvWTWQ_mUwZcJpLD1N2E0Vsxp2gni_R01o8j0rwZGSNHVHZRIz6WKl3WUc4UeA3Nk/s400/time-zones.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Retire Daylight Savings & Create 2 Time Zones -- West & East</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The original article CNN references gets even juicier...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://qz.com/142199/the-us-needs-to-retire-daylight-savings-and-just-have-two-time-zones-one-hour-apart/">The US needs to retire daylight savings and just have two time zones—one hour apart</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It would seem to be more efficient to do away with the practice altogether. The actual energy savings <a href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-200-2007-004/CEC-200-2007-004.PDF">are minimal, if they exist at all</a>. Frequent and uncoordinated time changes cause confusion, undermining economic efficiency. There’s evidence that regularly changing sleep cycles, associated with daylight saving, <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8578141">lowers productivity</a> and <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc0807104?query=current&rss=1&">increases heart attacks</a>. Being out of sync with European time changes was projected to cost the airline industry <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-22-daylight-congress_x.htm">$147 million a year</a> in travel disruptions.</blockquote>
Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-47396416938601482522013-11-03T17:21:00.000-08:002014-03-08T18:05:16.886-08:00Daylight ParentheticalLoved the parenthetical in this <a href="http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-rare-solar-eclipse-this-sunday-how-to-see-it-20131101,0,6076768.story#axzz2jdRecOzC">LA Times story</a> about the eclipse. Basically says "Yes, I know we're in Daylight Time <i>now</i>, but we won't be <i>then</i>..."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Those of us on the West Coast will have to get up early if we want to see the total eclipse as it happens. The Slooh </span>broadcast<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> begins at 3:45 a.m. PST Sunday. (We will have just set our clocks back as we moved from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time). </span></blockquote>
Semi-related: I was flying back to LA from the World Series celebration in Boston on Saturday and my plane was delayed multiple times due to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lax-shooting-gunman-kill-tsa-agents-20131103,0,6151093.story">the incident</a>. At one point I was supposed to land at 1am. Then I got delayed again and was scheduled to land at 1:55am -- which basically meant I was still landing at 1am...<br />
<br />
Time travel <a href="http://timelypersuasion.com/Home.html">is awesome</a>...DST <a href="http://www.standardtime.com/">is not</a>.Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-19036792712955501562013-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:002013-07-06T16:00:59.709-07:00Taste of the Census<a class="tr_bq" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/07/04/198424045/a-bbq-rub-that-tastes-like-brooklyn?ft=1">Making Census Data Taste Like New York City</a><br /><blockquote>
The connections between neighborhoods, ethnicities and food are quite strong. So I wondered, what if we could relate data about geography and ethnicity through taste? </blockquote>
<blockquote>
I then created recipes for each borough, assigning ingredients to each group of people, keeping proportions, flavor profiles and reasonable correlations in mind. The population figures of each group determined the volume of each ingredient and when combined, produced five different spice rubs, one for each borough of New York City. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Not everyone loved the rubs, of course. A few people were angry and offended as soon as they understood that the barbecue rubs represented census data and people groups. "You know," they would say, "some people would find this very offensive." "Are you saying that this group is this ingredient?" "Isn't this racist?" "How do you know this is the right ingredient?"</blockquote>
Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-35077072868065677842013-04-19T00:01:00.003-07:002013-04-19T00:01:28.870-07:00MoonshotsCool article. I especially liked this bit:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/ff-qa-larry-page/">Google’s Larry Page on Why Moon Shots Matter</a><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Teller imagines wheeling a Dr. Who time machine into Page’s office. He plugs it in and—it works! But instead of being bowled over, Page asks why it needs a plug. Wouldn’t it be better if it didn’t use power at all? “It’s not because he’s not excited about time machines or he’s ungrateful that we built it,” Teller says. “It’s just core to who he is. There’s always more to do, and his focus is on where the next 10X will come from.”</blockquote>
Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-85381244173696851302013-04-12T21:59:00.002-07:002014-03-08T18:02:32.943-08:00Coachella Standard TimeCoachella, you're killing me!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGKnO-K44jTK3bHbmb62d1zcD9az2Af5HDsvoILCrW1Dn1BS0ESTMg-KKJjeIImgCOyqkkXJpHhDvrE2Ffm4DkImBRz5TB-ssgtSXB_AbRGSLT2Zf0llVuskh9F1UIplB9NSV/s1600/2013-04-12+09.57.10+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGKnO-K44jTK3bHbmb62d1zcD9az2Af5HDsvoILCrW1Dn1BS0ESTMg-KKJjeIImgCOyqkkXJpHhDvrE2Ffm4DkImBRz5TB-ssgtSXB_AbRGSLT2Zf0llVuskh9F1UIplB9NSV/s400/2013-04-12+09.57.10+pm.png" height="192" width="400" /></a></div>
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Update:<br />
<br />
Guess they saw this post! Might be the fastest ever correction in my years of calling people out for misuse of PST.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cZ-Qzi7XSKBEglFgiLLiSuhhp1etwjGxEzBzXhF6-BTkBlxeXhn0-Z3EXzw4bmBgr0GlkrDvo-0E9x3OmD03sveob_FJ2DXaM8pVFwfzhoQ7Vil0BL9w3cEkVoM2IaHwtf4w/s1600/2013-04-13+01.46.03+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cZ-Qzi7XSKBEglFgiLLiSuhhp1etwjGxEzBzXhF6-BTkBlxeXhn0-Z3EXzw4bmBgr0GlkrDvo-0E9x3OmD03sveob_FJ2DXaM8pVFwfzhoQ7Vil0BL9w3cEkVoM2IaHwtf4w/s400/2013-04-13+01.46.03+pm.png" height="198" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-73385238581128492162012-12-20T23:19:00.000-08:002012-12-20T23:19:09.315-08:00Ghosts of Passwords PastI had to log into my Gmail account from a sketchy Internet cafe computer in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago to check on a reservation. Since I generally don't like doing that I made it a point to change my password when I got to the hotel.<br />
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Tonight I went on autopilot and tried logging in with the old password, and was pleasantly surprised to see this custom error message:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuMoU9Sf1kcroPs9v5T9olvWTYCkpEGLiCcnLDglbtZnn9wMIP1pb1ZTFAcg5aFZXy5ITnk4jqxHEkuCGbQxxcm4XFhM66pEmpJVa6XJTa6Op-93bMNApb9L0UG5atCwMVxXt/s1600/2012-12-20+11.11.20+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuMoU9Sf1kcroPs9v5T9olvWTYCkpEGLiCcnLDglbtZnn9wMIP1pb1ZTFAcg5aFZXy5ITnk4jqxHEkuCGbQxxcm4XFhM66pEmpJVa6XJTa6Op-93bMNApb9L0UG5atCwMVxXt/s1600/2012-12-20+11.11.20+pm.png" /></a></div>
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Very cool attention to detail that both subtly reminds you of the change and/or alerts you to a possible issue.Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-63528611089860328452012-09-15T22:06:00.002-07:002012-09-15T22:12:31.346-07:00How Do I Get Outta Here?Visited MapQuest.com for the first time in (almost literally) forever the other day, and was greeted by this overlay:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0X4Z01Dyl7kIJlU6TPBbEGOMfPXMIZ45b72RoZ9t7BgasIH3OWGmHCZSNPdMqeacca0KdAtgz4bUCbYw5I5PB_LSd7prBfq3lHuDHEIiKsQn9HaD43fZez9MUDlt9NSdpYTF/s1600/2012-09-15+09.56.53+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0X4Z01Dyl7kIJlU6TPBbEGOMfPXMIZ45b72RoZ9t7BgasIH3OWGmHCZSNPdMqeacca0KdAtgz4bUCbYw5I5PB_LSd7prBfq3lHuDHEIiKsQn9HaD43fZez9MUDlt9NSdpYTF/s320/2012-09-15+09.56.53+pm.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Remember when this was among the greatest training revelations in the history of iNetNow?<br />
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"I'm going South on I-95"<br />
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<i>(Don't ask where they are -- just pick any city to the north, find I-95 and start giving directions from there...)</i><br />
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I even gave it a throwaway in-joke reference in Chapter 4 of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026ZOVHU">Timely Persuasion</a></i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I can get to the freeway from my house without any help from Mr. Mapquest, thank you very much."</blockquote>
Guess someone at MapQuest read TP and got inspired...Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-21780250403458689602012-05-23T23:49:00.000-07:002012-05-23T23:49:59.762-07:00Who Helped?Saw this in the sidebar on Yahoo! News and did a double take:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n4TIDH6EsDCDLjP7ttr1uMildhY0rUbVoWS85imjoQSNjegIV7yvAHBIEx_fc8a5LfSeW5E_hINUH0l-V8Bo09cHNKMN7-4kajbk2QmjzAA_C3bXoD4NEcfCDJRFVqy_qzc-/s1600/Who.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n4TIDH6EsDCDLjP7ttr1uMildhY0rUbVoWS85imjoQSNjegIV7yvAHBIEx_fc8a5LfSeW5E_hINUH0l-V8Bo09cHNKMN7-4kajbk2QmjzAA_C3bXoD4NEcfCDJRFVqy_qzc-/s1600/Who.jpg" /></a></div>
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Really? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who">Dr. Who</a> (as in, the time traveler) helped us find Bin Laden? Wow! This will be interesting...<br />
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But then I realized I was skimming / mentally editing, and hadn't yet processed the last few words:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIwJb0Ek3mWew6y3AxGOi5BSAjEqpMYJ5HAQo75bnsn1F4cdgCGvoZZHOsTBCsxaoYM0ANR0kTDGf3L6qBDxqKkC8i7xaOjtdAjQiPc0fDxjIqiT30GoyCrB5jTlpHzYpvphxt/s1600/Helped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIwJb0Ek3mWew6y3AxGOi5BSAjEqpMYJ5HAQo75bnsn1F4cdgCGvoZZHOsTBCsxaoYM0ANR0kTDGf3L6qBDxqKkC8i7xaOjtdAjQiPc0fDxjIqiT30GoyCrB5jTlpHzYpvphxt/s1600/Helped.jpg" /></a></div>
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Um, yeah. That makes more sense.<br />
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Full article for the record, with a full headline that is less open to geeky interpretation:<br />
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/shakil-afridi-pakistan-doctor-aided-bin-laden-hunt/story?id=16412064">Pakistani Doctor Who Aided Bin Laden Hunt Gets 33 Years</a></div>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-4651448613258057772012-03-13T23:08:00.001-07:002012-03-13T23:09:45.050-07:00Mapblast from the PastWas reminiscing about my fondness for MapBlast and the old school LineDrive directions when I discovered my coworkers hadn't heard of it. A quick Google brought up this excellent article:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://somethingaboutmaps.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/remembering-linedrive/">Remembering LineDrive</a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #242424; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"It was brilliant. Clean, simple, effective. It tells you everything you need to know about how to get from A to B, and it tells you nothing else. There is no clutter. It does not take up my time or printer ink with roads I won’t be using, or cities hundreds of miles from those I’ll be passing through. I can look at this map quickly while driving. I don’t have to hunt around the page to find the little blue line that contains the path information I need — everything on this page is there because it’s essential."</span></blockquote>
Couldn't have said it better myself.Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-45512448639912506372012-01-17T23:46:00.000-08:002012-01-17T23:46:23.976-08:00A Wiki-less, Google-less World<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/18/tech/sopa-blackouts/index.html?hpt=hp_c1">Wikipedia, other websites go dark in anti-piracy bill protest</a>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjouCNbHKicaLJ6E2RapCtRenxCzh8veHwz0OJjF_IowiRapUWOg5fAFafyk7BztdCqPNo2VCLHiP5ES1BxzlwCPgKJJHtDpTbl_-4DUwFl_d_TqPbhwx5Jjs5xfiEjKF5G-qIe/s400/2012-01-17+11.35.45+pm.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bsUvPICqYunZmxWajJvFJySIWmql4s8OBfvu3whd-q7w_upfBqJWtZb1ZO5UIwtXPMdrmHAgR0O2iCCZWwfBC5gOhDcLPwt4E9ycT8vexeZAO_W_a9lDbjbSY3xOd_qZBXlc/s320/2012-01-17+11.38.25+pm.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/">End Piracy, Not Liberty</a></div>
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<br /></div>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-14734594507888317782011-07-30T08:49:00.000-07:002011-07-30T08:56:33.032-07:00Selfish, Productive, Honest, Sign Me Up<div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><div>http://nullisnull.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-work-with-me.html</div><div><blockquote>In March 2005, a photocopy was handed to me in preparation for work with one of the top wigs. It enumerated the rules necessary to avoid conflict and ensure efficient communication between me and someone who doesn't have time for bullshit.</blockquote></div><div>I love this in list in theory.</div><div><br /></div><div>The successful execution of said list would indicate a true master. The unsuccessful execution would indicate a narcissist, egomaniac or idiot. Though an idiot probably couldn't put the list together in the first place.</div></span></div>BoRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02119156969635455699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-59778250417276478362011-04-12T19:09:00.000-07:002011-04-12T19:31:22.860-07:00The Job We Never Had at GoogleA Google a Day:<br /><br /><a href="http://agoogleaday.com/">http://agoogleaday.com/</a><br /><br />I don't like Google's solution to today's April 12 question. But it's really just due to the ambiguity of the question itself.<br /><br />My standard for top performance search answering:<br /><br />- single set of search terms<br />- answer comes up on 1st page search results<br />- answer can clearly be read from the search preview, without clicking through to a website<br /><br />I'd only rate myself a B on this question. It took two sets of search terms for me to find the answer. Better than Google's 3 though.BoRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08015099190775763556noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-57392909658914565322011-03-13T10:23:00.001-07:002014-03-08T18:04:51.179-08:00Semi-Annual and/or Sporadic Thoughts on Daylight SavingsMy favorite holiday!<br />
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<ul>
<li>This is the first daylight savings since I bought a new atomic clock for the kitchen. I wanted to stay up and watch it set itself, but forgot and went to bed 15 minutes before it should have happened :(</li>
<li>When our office manager sent out a "spring forward" reminder on Friday, I was tempted to hit reply all and give one of my classic "standard time" rants. But I didn't...</li>
<li><a href="http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/4af27cef8691316f757eca50453c082c">Someecards.com</a> seems to be an appropriate outlet for that sort of thing:</li>
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<a href="http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/4af27cef8691316f757eca50453c082c" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYn3E3WYcBFiEmaXC3QEDLwDgDg7Adtl2sE5Bz2kquw4dIaL4RhMkaTMBq40pQ2LJe-eN1Qq9RUE9buCQdBrj0BJkKvMZC5urN5OghMd0EXAFIrGjo8wJjhmn4X1wIOuDFRsda/s400/screen-capture-20.png" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583617524981341746" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 277px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-59967126865389646972010-12-05T00:20:00.000-08:002010-12-05T00:32:15.203-08:00My Eyes! My Eyes!Unbelievable and fascinating in a train wreck sort of way:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=3&sq=search%20engine%20eyeglasses&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all">A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Quick Summation Quote:</span><br /><blockquote>“Hello, My name is Stanley with DecorMyEyes.com,” the post began. “I just wanted to let you guys know that the more replies you people post, the more business and the more hits and sales I get. My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement.”</blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A Little Deeper:</span><br /><br />Lady buys glasses online. Wants to return them. Merchant says no. Customer says they'll dispute the charge. Merchant says:<br /><br /><blockquote>“Listen, bitch,” he fumed, according to Ms. Rodriguez. “I know your address. I’m one bridge over” — a reference, it turned out, to the company’s office in Brooklyn. Then, she said, he threatened to find her and commit an act of sexual violence too graphic to describe in a newspaper.</blockquote><br />It's all a stunt for a better Google ranking. And it worked! <br /><br />(Or, at least it <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/being-bad-to-your-customers-is-bad-for.html">used to work</a>.)<br /><br />The full article is a heck of a read.Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-46461966851554533882010-11-22T21:53:00.000-08:002010-11-22T22:36:04.145-08:00DoomsdayLearned this from a question in yesterday's edition of QRANK (an iPhone/Facebook trivia game BoRyan and I have been playing), and it totally blew me away. I can't believe I've never heard of this before!<br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_rule">Doomsday Rule</a> is a formula that let's you calculate the day of the week of any date in past or future history based on a (relatively) easy math formula plus some simple memorization.<br /><br />We already know from experience that St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo always fall on the same weekday. This uses the same general concept.<br /><br />In a nutshell:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1. Doomsday</span><br />By coincidence of the calendar, 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10 and 12/12 are always on the exact same day of the week each year. This is called "Doomsday." (And to get a touch fancier, the July 4th and Halloween also always fall on doomsday, as do the palindromic pairs of 7/11 & 11/7 and 9/5 & 5/9). If you know the day of the week the doomsday is for a given year, you can use that as an easy reference points to compare to other days.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2. Anchor Days</span><br />Every century has an "anchor day" to use as a starting point. The anchor for the 1900s is Wednesday and for the 2000s is Tuesday. For all practical uses that's all you have to memorize, though history buffs and time travelers may want to learn a few more.<br /><br />Once you know the anchor, this formula will give you doomsday for a given year:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">Last 2 digits of year + last 2 digits divided by 4 (you can discard the remainder) = # of days to add to the anchor.</span></blockquote><br />So if we take November 5, 1955 as an example:<br /><br />Anchor for the 1900s is Wednesday<br /><br />55 + 55/4 = 55 + 13 = 68 days after Wednesday.<br /><br />68/7 is 9 with a remainder of 5 (or to user fancier math: 68 mod 7 = 5)<br /><br />So Doomsday is 5 days after Wednesday, aka Monday.<br /><br />11/7 is a doomsday, so 11/5 is two days earlier on <a href="http://www.entertonement.com/clips/cnbgwmvfcx--Next-Saturday-night-we're-sending-you-back%E2%80%A6to-the-futureBack-to-the-Future-Christopher-Lloyd-Dr-Emmett-Doc-L-Brown-Nerds-">Saturday</a>.<br /><br />Pretty cool, eh?<br /><br />Even better: The inventor is guy named John Conway.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_rule">Wikipedia - Doomsday Rule</a>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-24635848019858754932010-11-13T17:06:00.001-08:002014-03-08T18:05:28.957-08:00Some Daylight CardA little belated, but...<br />
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<a href="http://www.someecards.com/workplace-cards/daylight-savings-time-monday-schedule-thrown-off" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbHrHi-oWz_nOmNLfDS8vKIruMgS3z3tVClXApdQePtl0_64Xbr-aHiW9-YGWs7pYkI4b0kmzgcndpLSE5EYgpLMoqx9gS0_SxojjvNE1m0ucRLvxQWC9BS9HBP24vcH1Vs_w/s400/daylight-savings-workplace-ecards-someecards.png" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539205820545962402" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 223px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-81344899379121009392010-09-29T21:58:00.000-07:002010-09-29T22:00:42.208-07:00Gmail is Like CilantroThis one's for BoRyan:<br /><blockquote>Google's Wiltse Carpenter compared the frustration with threaded Gmail to the backlash over cilantro. "And just as an outspoken minority has banded together in unison to declare their distaste of one of nature's most delicious herbs, some of you have been very vocal about your dislike of conversation threading," he wrote in a blog post.</blockquote><br />(via <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20018019-265.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+webware+%28Webware.com%29">cnet</a>)Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-26629672877030635762010-09-11T12:18:00.000-07:002010-09-11T12:19:45.257-07:00How Google’s Algorithm Rules the WebA little old, but fascinating:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/all/1">How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web</a>Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24510252.post-37411524230060886342010-09-03T17:13:00.000-07:002010-09-03T17:16:59.173-07:00The Wilderness DowntownPlease go to the following URL using <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/">Google Chrome</a>:<br /><br /><a href="www.thewildernessdowntown.com/">http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/</a><br /><br />(And don't skip the address part, even if it says it doesn't have enough info.)Jake of All Tradeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09208742067459269534noreply@blogger.com0