I almost think I would rather spend a month in hell than have to use Safari on the iPad. These two make a horrible pair.
This morning, a friend sent me an anguished, beautifully argued plea to vote against a bill in congress, HR 1249, the so-called “America Invents Act”. I sat down at my iPad to forward his argument, with a preface, to my congressman.
Emailing a congressman requires me to fill out a webpage form with many semi-personal details. I did that. Then I selected the appropriate edit window (on the same web page), to write my message. I wrote my intro, and then I went back to the different Safari window with my friend’s argument that I wished to quote. I copied it and returned to the congressional web form, where I discovered that Safari had helpfully forgotten everything I had typed into it.
After I finished pounding my fist on the table, I decided that I had been doing my work in the wrong order. I should FIRST paste what my friend wrote, then fill in the other fields. So I did the paste, and it worked just fine.
Now here’s where Safari and iPad work together to persuade a person to beat his fist into a pulp. There are no cursor keys on the iPad, so how do I “scroll up” to the top of this edit window? Safari responds to finger motions to scroll the entire web page up and down, but not to scroll inside a window.
Damn you, Safari. And Damn your little friend iPad, too.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Aralon: Sword and shadow for iPhone and iPad: How to do it!
If you're an iPhone or iPad user, and you like fantasy computer games, please check out my semi-FAQ at Aralon, Sword and Shadow: The Plan, with various tips and advice. I've collected information from all over the web, and added some tips of my own, such as your best chance to play the Orc Castle (Uthu) without crashing.
There's something about these computer games that only devotees can understand. One person complained in a forum that he had gotten stuck after playing his game for twenty hours. Due to a bug, or perhaps a careless action on his part, it was now impossible to make progress. He summed his situation up as follows: That's twenty hours, wasted!
Someone else commented right back to him: Twenty hours playing any computer game is twenty hours wasted.
There's something about these computer games that only devotees can understand. One person complained in a forum that he had gotten stuck after playing his game for twenty hours. Due to a bug, or perhaps a careless action on his part, it was now impossible to make progress. He summed his situation up as follows: That's twenty hours, wasted!
Someone else commented right back to him: Twenty hours playing any computer game is twenty hours wasted.
There ought to be a law!
I bought a $0.99 app for my iPad this morning. Before buying it, I had to agree to the new and changed terms of the iTunes legal agreement. This legal agreement is presented on my iPad as a series of FORTY-ONE PAGES, each of which requires scrolling to read. How many hours am I expected to study this agreement before accepting it? Sheesh.
It could be worse. These ‘agreements’ to use software used to appear onscreen in tiny type, sometimes laid out so that you had to scroll horizontally to read EACH LINE; and not accessible to copy-and-paste. Double Sheesh.
Companies ought to be required to make it easy to review the legalese we’re agreeing to before buying or downloading software. If you weren’t born yesterday, you know that some of these agreements bury nasty terms in them, such as claiming ownership of content that you upload.
Finally, no one should be allowed to write a contract that says that the other party agrees to any future changes the contractor wishes to make. “Real” contracts generally say the exact opposite: “This is the only contract between X and Y, and it cannot be changed without written consent of both X and Y.” Triple Sheesh.
It could be worse. These ‘agreements’ to use software used to appear onscreen in tiny type, sometimes laid out so that you had to scroll horizontally to read EACH LINE; and not accessible to copy-and-paste. Double Sheesh.
Companies ought to be required to make it easy to review the legalese we’re agreeing to before buying or downloading software. If you weren’t born yesterday, you know that some of these agreements bury nasty terms in them, such as claiming ownership of content that you upload.
Finally, no one should be allowed to write a contract that says that the other party agrees to any future changes the contractor wishes to make. “Real” contracts generally say the exact opposite: “This is the only contract between X and Y, and it cannot be changed without written consent of both X and Y.” Triple Sheesh.
Monday, June 13, 2011
When people say that, it’s always a lie:
There’s a coarse joke about how when you hear a certain statement, it’s always a lie. I’ve discovered that modern technology has given us a new statement that, when you hear it, is also a lie. This lie has probably been around for over a hundred years, but it can’t be much older than that, and it has become popular only recently. Here’s the setting:
You are listening to, or viewing, a podcast or some recorded production.
Somebody does, or says, something embarrassing. Then you hear the lie, and it is always a lie:
Don’t worry, I’ll edit that out.
You are listening to, or viewing, a podcast or some recorded production.
Somebody does, or says, something embarrassing. Then you hear the lie, and it is always a lie:
Don’t worry, I’ll edit that out.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wilpon Juices up the Mets:
The Mets’ owner, Fred Wilpon, recently did the unthinkable (and, apparently, the unpardonable): he criticized three of his better players in a printed interview. Fred was forced to eat crow, using the phone to apologize to the players. Worse yet, he was told to apologize by phone, since he would not have been welcome in person.
But guess what?
Two of those players, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran (until Beltran was injured; I told them to trade him before his next injury) were obviously stung by Wilpon’s criticism, and have been playing their best baseball of the year to prove him wrong. The third player, the gracious David Wright, can’t do anything to prove Wilpon wrong until he’s fully recovered from an injury.
But guess what?
Two of those players, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran (until Beltran was injured; I told them to trade him before his next injury) were obviously stung by Wilpon’s criticism, and have been playing their best baseball of the year to prove him wrong. The third player, the gracious David Wright, can’t do anything to prove Wilpon wrong until he’s fully recovered from an injury.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Just one Lichee:
While doing some major shopping today, I decided to buy a Lichee. They are relatively expensive, but they make a great treat. I memorized the code – 4309 – because I was sure the cashier would otherwise have to look it up.
The young woman who packed my groceries was obviously the daughter of Chinese parents. She teased me about my Lichee:
“Don’t you want to buy more than one? After you eat it, won’t you want more?”
Ehhh, she was right.
The young woman who packed my groceries was obviously the daughter of Chinese parents. She teased me about my Lichee:
“Don’t you want to buy more than one? After you eat it, won’t you want more?”
Ehhh, she was right.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
I went to a big, local cinema to see and hear Wagner's Die Walkure performed 'live' at the Met (CON):
It seems so great to get a Metropolitan Opera Experience close to your own home, for only $18. But I may not ever do it again. The crucial problem?
It was too loud. The tenor made my whole head buzz with his resonance. After the first act, I politely asked, and they turned the volume down. It was bearable, but still too loud. A modern orchestra can be unbearably loud in a theater with good acoustics, but this was ridiculous, and it is mostly out of the movie patron’s control.
It was too long. There were two twenty minute intermissions, and in addition, there were interviews and explanations that greatly added to the fun, but let’s face it: 5.5 hours is too long for even a long opera like Die Walkure.
It was not real. In order to record the singers well, they must have been miked. (One reviewer noted that the sound changed when two singers stood close together, suggesting to him an interaction between their mikes.) Opera singers train to project their voices in vast theaters against the orchestral sounds. I would rather be sitting at the Met and know the quality of each voice, without the fake power that microphones can bestow on singers.
It was ‘produced’. This was not exactly a live performance. The video was taken from a live performance at the Met, one in which, memorably, the opening curtain was delayed 30 minutes for a computer glitch. But there were sudden cuts in the camera work, and here’s my bottom line: I want someone to tell me how this opera video was made, so that I don’t have to suspect that they made some edits to correct less-than-perfect moments. In any case, it must have been a challenge to edit together the sound from all its microphoned audio sources, and the result could be somewhat artificial. The interviews all sounded as if they were done during the live performance, but must I really believe that? Some of the artists seemed awfully relaxed at having their own intermission time eaten up by interviews. Again, I’d like to know how this wonderful video was really put together.
The video did not quite manage to do justice to the orchestral sound. I suspect that is the result of editing together the miked singers with the orchestra. One reviewer complained that the singers seemed to have ‘3D’ sound, but the orchestra was ‘2D’, that is, sonically flat, when the whole orchestra played. (The quiet sections that featured solos by orchestral players were fantastic.)
In sum, I’d like to attend another of these ‘live’ opera videos if I knew they were reasonably true to an actual performance, and assured not to be too loud. I want to know how I’m being entertained.
It was too loud. The tenor made my whole head buzz with his resonance. After the first act, I politely asked, and they turned the volume down. It was bearable, but still too loud. A modern orchestra can be unbearably loud in a theater with good acoustics, but this was ridiculous, and it is mostly out of the movie patron’s control.
It was too long. There were two twenty minute intermissions, and in addition, there were interviews and explanations that greatly added to the fun, but let’s face it: 5.5 hours is too long for even a long opera like Die Walkure.
It was not real. In order to record the singers well, they must have been miked. (One reviewer noted that the sound changed when two singers stood close together, suggesting to him an interaction between their mikes.) Opera singers train to project their voices in vast theaters against the orchestral sounds. I would rather be sitting at the Met and know the quality of each voice, without the fake power that microphones can bestow on singers.
It was ‘produced’. This was not exactly a live performance. The video was taken from a live performance at the Met, one in which, memorably, the opening curtain was delayed 30 minutes for a computer glitch. But there were sudden cuts in the camera work, and here’s my bottom line: I want someone to tell me how this opera video was made, so that I don’t have to suspect that they made some edits to correct less-than-perfect moments. In any case, it must have been a challenge to edit together the sound from all its microphoned audio sources, and the result could be somewhat artificial. The interviews all sounded as if they were done during the live performance, but must I really believe that? Some of the artists seemed awfully relaxed at having their own intermission time eaten up by interviews. Again, I’d like to know how this wonderful video was really put together.
The video did not quite manage to do justice to the orchestral sound. I suspect that is the result of editing together the miked singers with the orchestra. One reviewer complained that the singers seemed to have ‘3D’ sound, but the orchestra was ‘2D’, that is, sonically flat, when the whole orchestra played. (The quiet sections that featured solos by orchestral players were fantastic.)
In sum, I’d like to attend another of these ‘live’ opera videos if I knew they were reasonably true to an actual performance, and assured not to be too loud. I want to know how I’m being entertained.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
I went to a big, local cinema to see and hear Wagner's Die Walkure performed 'live' at the Met (PRO):
Gosh, what a spectacle. The singers for this performance got great reviews, and I thought they were wonderful. The staging had its fascinating moments, and it's notwworthy that this particular stage equipment enabled the Valkyries to sing their parts near the audience. Apparently, traditional staging methods put the Valks partially behind a curtain, so they cannot sing solo, and have to double their voice parts. The Ride of the Valkyries is spectacular theater, due to Wagner's wonderful voice writing.
This video was Opera with subtitles and closeups! And the actor-singers (with one exception) were up to the kind of acting that makes closeups worthwhile. This astonishing opera is drama, drama, drama, with great singing and music to set the moods. There was great doubt when subtitles were first introduced into opera, and this was my first experience of them. Without them, I would have had a good idea of what was going on; with them, I knew how to interpret every gesture and vocal subtlety. I think I would want subtitles even for an opera in English.
Tomorrow, I will post my gripes.
This video was Opera with subtitles and closeups! And the actor-singers (with one exception) were up to the kind of acting that makes closeups worthwhile. This astonishing opera is drama, drama, drama, with great singing and music to set the moods. There was great doubt when subtitles were first introduced into opera, and this was my first experience of them. Without them, I would have had a good idea of what was going on; with them, I knew how to interpret every gesture and vocal subtlety. I think I would want subtitles even for an opera in English.
Tomorrow, I will post my gripes.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Holiday Weekend confuses the MLB? (Major League Baseball):
It's Memorial Day Weekend. No work Monday, for many of us, so we can afford to stay up late Sunday night. And what does the MLB do? It schedules day games on Sunday, and night games (as usual) on Monday. They ought to schedule the other way 'round.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
I didn’t know ...
Now that I have an Ipad2, I have entered Apple’s world of Gestures. At my age, it’s not easy to learn lots of new gestures that do cool things, but from reading the manual, I know that there are some great time-saving two-finger and three-finger salutes gestures. I’ve been through this before with a gesture-enabled fingerpad, and my approach, which doesn’t work very well, is to try to learn one just new gesture at a time.
I feel a lot less frustrated today, because I found a fine essay by Donald A. Norman and Jakob Nielsen that rips this new gesture world to pieces. To whet your appetite, they point out that there’s no consistency across apps to help you learn gestures; and that there’s no way to SEE when the capability of gestures is present. Please read the essay itself for its many memorable points. Here’s a quote:
Whenever we discus these examples with others, we invariably get two reactions. One is "gee, I didn't know that." The other is, "did you know that if you [do] this (followed by some exotic swipe, multi-fingered tap, or prolonged touch) that the following happens?" Usually it is then our turn to look surprised and say "no we didn't know that." This is no way to have people learn how to use a system.
You know, I think I would prefer a gesture-based system that uses the Microsoft Kinect technology. Then we could we could replace [alt+F4] with the most common one-finger salute.
I feel a lot less frustrated today, because I found a fine essay by Donald A. Norman and Jakob Nielsen that rips this new gesture world to pieces. To whet your appetite, they point out that there’s no consistency across apps to help you learn gestures; and that there’s no way to SEE when the capability of gestures is present. Please read the essay itself for its many memorable points. Here’s a quote:
Whenever we discus these examples with others, we invariably get two reactions. One is "gee, I didn't know that." The other is, "did you know that if you [do] this (followed by some exotic swipe, multi-fingered tap, or prolonged touch) that the following happens?" Usually it is then our turn to look surprised and say "no we didn't know that." This is no way to have people learn how to use a system.
You know, I think I would prefer a gesture-based system that uses the Microsoft Kinect technology. Then we could we could replace [alt+F4] with the most common one-finger salute.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
WPRB Playlists for my programs at 6:00 A.M. on Tuesdays, etc....
The WPRB playlists are back where they belong, at WPRB.COM. Click on one of the Playlist alternatives. You can even use the playlist SEARCH feature to find specific pieces, recordings and (often) playtimes.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Dropped calls: iPhone and Verizon:
Do you remember, when we heard that there was going to be a Verizon-enabled iPhone, we heard stories all from over the press about how Verizon would probably drop just as many calls as AT&T? The jist of this claim was that the dropped calls were mostly Apple’s fault, not AT&T’s so there was no way for Verizon to do any better. There were supposed to be bugs in Apple’s call software, or maybe hardware, that AT&T had taken the blame for, all these years.
I never believed this story for a minute. (And to their credit, neither did many people who were covering the iPhone story.) I made a note to wait a few months and blog about it, when the evidence was in, although I was sure I knew what the evidence would be. Here’s what I expected: Verizon besting AT&T in dropped calls.
Common sense argued that if Apple’s software was causing lots of dropped calls, they had plenty of time, and loads of incentive, to do something about it. I had only two questions about this story:
I never believed this story for a minute. (And to their credit, neither did many people who were covering the iPhone story.) I made a note to wait a few months and blog about it, when the evidence was in, although I was sure I knew what the evidence would be. Here’s what I expected: Verizon besting AT&T in dropped calls.
Common sense argued that if Apple’s software was causing lots of dropped calls, they had plenty of time, and loads of incentive, to do something about it. I had only two questions about this story:
- Who planted it?
- Why were the news people so gullible about it?
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Playlist for May 17, 2011, 2011 at 6 a.m. to 8:30, Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
This is the playlist for my radio program of May 17, 2011, 6:00 A.M..
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6:00 A.M.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6:00 A.M.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for May 17, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Ensemble | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Rachmaninov, Sergei | Symphonic Dances for two pianos, Op. 45 | n/a | n/a | Emanuel Ax (pno #2), Yefim Bronfman (pno #1) | Sony SK 61767 | 6:03 |
| Debussy, Claude | En Blanc et Noir | n/a | n/a | Ursula Oppens (pno #1), Jerome Lowenthal (piano #2) | Cedille cdr 90000 | 6:37 |
| Anweiler, Andrzej | Diversions for two clarinets | Chicago Clarinet Trio | n/a | Larry Combs (cl) & Julie DeRoche (cl) | Albany TROY1211 | 6:56 |
| Saint-Saëns, Camille | Piano Concerto #4 in c, Op. 44 | Orchestre de Paris | Serge Baudo (cond) | Aldo Ciccolini (pno) | EMI 69443 | 7:06 |
| Duparc, Henri | Songs: L'invitation au Voyage (Baudelaire), Extase (lahor), La vie antérieure (Baudelaire) | n/a | n/a | Sarah Walker (mezzo), Roger Vignoles (pno) | Hyperion CDA 66323 | 7:36 |
| Lansky, Paul | Composition Project for Seniors | Computer-generated | n/a | n/a | Bridge 9210 | 7:54 |
| Ginastera, Alberto | Popol Vuh: The Mayan Creation, Op.44 | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Gisele Ben-Dor | n/a | Naxos 8.570999 | 8:03 |
Monday, May 16, 2011
Locked Keys:
In 1994 I had a consulting job that required me to commute east, all across New Jersey, an hour each way every day. After an accident that totaled my then current car (a woman returning from her chemo appointment made an injudicious left turn), we got a brand new Honda Accord for me to commute in. The car was a few weeks old and I was coming home on a Friday afternoon. On Fridays, I always left early enough to get home well before the start of the Sabbath, at which time I could no longer drive. I was always hyper about making sure I got home early on Fridays.
I stopped halfway, at my favorite gas station, an indie place that sold off-brand gas at low prices. I pulled up at the pump, got out of the car and closed the door, locking my keys inside. The motor was still running.
That’s a nightmare scenario, except for one thing. The gas station employees were not the least bit worried. One of them reached up and felt along the low roof of the gas station office. He pulled out a long tool designed for one thing: to unlock card doors. He shoved it down between the driver’s seat window and the outside of the door, fished round a bit and .... he dropped it. The tool disappeared inside my car door. The motor was still running.
I stood there with my heart in my mouth while the gas station owner made a few phone calls. Soon he announced there was nothing to worry about. Fifteen minutes later, a guy drove up, looking very much like the same sort of foreigner as the gas station employees. He unlocked my car with a similar tool, got the other tool out of my door, teased us all, and drove off. I got home about thirty minutes later than expected, feeling very lucky.
I stopped halfway, at my favorite gas station, an indie place that sold off-brand gas at low prices. I pulled up at the pump, got out of the car and closed the door, locking my keys inside. The motor was still running.
That’s a nightmare scenario, except for one thing. The gas station employees were not the least bit worried. One of them reached up and felt along the low roof of the gas station office. He pulled out a long tool designed for one thing: to unlock card doors. He shoved it down between the driver’s seat window and the outside of the door, fished round a bit and .... he dropped it. The tool disappeared inside my car door. The motor was still running.
I stood there with my heart in my mouth while the gas station owner made a few phone calls. Soon he announced there was nothing to worry about. Fifteen minutes later, a guy drove up, looking very much like the same sort of foreigner as the gas station employees. He unlocked my car with a similar tool, got the other tool out of my door, teased us all, and drove off. I got home about thirty minutes later than expected, feeling very lucky.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Trade Beltran (the Mets):
Carlos Beltran recently hit three home runs in one game. He’s healthy and he’s batting well, a great asset to the Mets.
The Conventional Wisdom about the Mets is stark and simple. They are not good enough to win their division. They are not good enough to win the Wild Card spot in the playoffs. Teams in their situation trade off good players during the pennant race. In July, as the trading deadline approaches, some team that is in a pennant race will give up a lot for Beltran. The Mets are expected to wait for a summer auction and trade Beltran away to the most desperate bidder.
I disagree. Trade Beltran now! It’s too much to hope that he will play like this all the way through July; he's at risk to get injured again. The time to trade him is now.
The Conventional Wisdom about the Mets is stark and simple. They are not good enough to win their division. They are not good enough to win the Wild Card spot in the playoffs. Teams in their situation trade off good players during the pennant race. In July, as the trading deadline approaches, some team that is in a pennant race will give up a lot for Beltran. The Mets are expected to wait for a summer auction and trade Beltran away to the most desperate bidder.
I disagree. Trade Beltran now! It’s too much to hope that he will play like this all the way through July; he's at risk to get injured again. The time to trade him is now.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
When you leave a phone message, remember: You are Acting!
When you leave a phone message, or when you record your own OGM, it's time to get dramatic. Emphasize, and be clear and to the point, or else you'll mumble the most important part, or even a digit.
It makes me so sad to hear a message, or an OGM, that just cannot be understood. I once needed to reach a doctor's emergency line. The emergency number played a message about how to call the doctor's weekend number. That number was just thrown away in a rapid soft voice at the end of the message, and I think I was lucky to be able to hear eight of the nine digits. I reached the doctor by calling almost all ten of the possible numbers, in the course of which I got to talk to some very nice people, but that wasn't important then.
If your message includes a phone number, speak it twice! It doesn't matter how clearly you enunciate your digits; what matters is that a moment of noise can obliterate one of them. Give your listener a second chance.
It makes me so sad to hear a message, or an OGM, that just cannot be understood. I once needed to reach a doctor's emergency line. The emergency number played a message about how to call the doctor's weekend number. That number was just thrown away in a rapid soft voice at the end of the message, and I think I was lucky to be able to hear eight of the nine digits. I reached the doctor by calling almost all ten of the possible numbers, in the course of which I got to talk to some very nice people, but that wasn't important then.
If your message includes a phone number, speak it twice! It doesn't matter how clearly you enunciate your digits; what matters is that a moment of noise can obliterate one of them. Give your listener a second chance.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
My Wedding Ring is off my finger, and my skin is recuperating, but...
I hadn't really thought about it, but I have a nervous habit of rapping out interesting rhythms with my wedding ring. I tap it on staircase railings and lots of other reverberant surfaces. Currently, I'm not wearing it. I haven't lost the rapping habit, but it's really silly right now: I tap the side of my ring finger on hard surfaces, and nothing happens.
Playlist for May 10, 2011 , 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB Princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6:00.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6:00.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for May 10, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Ensemble | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Asrael Symphony, Op. 27 | Suk, Josef | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Libor Pesek | n/a | VC 91221 | 6:04 |
| Schumann, Robert | Liederkreis, op. 39 (Eichendorff) | n/a | n/a | Elisabeth Schwartzkopf (sopr), Geoffrey Parsons (pno) | lp: angel 37043 | 7:10 |
| Rachmaninov, Sergei | Suite #1 for two pianos, op. 5, fantasie-tableaux | n/a | n/a | Emanuel Ax (pno), Yefim Bronfman (pno) | Sony SK 61767 | ~7:37 |
| Ravel, Maurice | Concerto for the Left Hand in D | Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra | Leonard Slatkin | Alicia de Larrocha (pno) | RCA BMG 60985 | 8:02 |
Friday, May 06, 2011
Trauma, and Shredded Wheat:
Shredded Wheat – and my father – caused one of the most traumatic experiences in my entire, long life. It happened when I was fifteen, during my first full summer at sleep-away camp.
About two weeks into the season, the camp served shredded wheat for breakfast. I’m talking about those, big, fist-sized logs, not the bite-sized shredded wheat that did not exist in the nineteen-fifties. I and my friends all happily took a log or two of the shredded wheat for our bowls and headed to our table, where there were big pitchers of milk.
I did what my father always did. I picked up my log of shredded wheat and crumbled it inside my hands, so that the shreds fell, milk-ready, into the bowl. Everyone at the table burst into laughter. I looked up: they were all doing something different that was, to me, incomprehensible. They had poured milk over their uncrumbled shredded wheat, and they were cutting into it with their spoons.
It mattered not that I knew they were eating their breakfasts the wrong, wrong way. I was the odd boy out, laughed away from the table.
I never ate shredded wheat at camp again.
About two weeks into the season, the camp served shredded wheat for breakfast. I’m talking about those, big, fist-sized logs, not the bite-sized shredded wheat that did not exist in the nineteen-fifties. I and my friends all happily took a log or two of the shredded wheat for our bowls and headed to our table, where there were big pitchers of milk.
I did what my father always did. I picked up my log of shredded wheat and crumbled it inside my hands, so that the shreds fell, milk-ready, into the bowl. Everyone at the table burst into laughter. I looked up: they were all doing something different that was, to me, incomprehensible. They had poured milk over their uncrumbled shredded wheat, and they were cutting into it with their spoons.
It mattered not that I knew they were eating their breakfasts the wrong, wrong way. I was the odd boy out, laughed away from the table.
I never ate shredded wheat at camp again.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Playlist for May 3, 2011 at 6 a.m: Music I would never play on WPRB!
Playlist for May 3, 2011 at 6:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M, EDT, WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
This is a special program: Music I would never play on WPRB.
You can read an explanation in the WPRB blog, Right here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6:00 A.M..
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
This is a special program: Music I would never play on WPRB.
You can read an explanation in the WPRB blog, Right here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6:00 A.M..
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for May 3, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Ensemble | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto #2 | Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal | Charles Dutoit | Jorge Bolet (pno) | Decca 430 736 | 6:03 |
| Dutilleux, Henri | String Quartet, 'Ansi la nuit' | Juillard String Quartet | n/a | Robert Mann (vln), Joel Smirnoff (vln), Samuel Rhodes (vla), Joel Krosnick (vc) | Sony SK 52554 | 6:42 |
| Sibelius, Jean | Symphony #2 in D, Op. 43 | Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam | George Szell | n/a | Philips 420 771 | 7:00 |
| Chopin, Frederic | Polonaises Op. 26, #1 and #2 | n/a | n/a | Arthur Rubinstein (pno) | AR 09026 | 7:45 |
| Pachelbel, Johann | Kanon & Gigue | Musica Antiqua Köln | Reinhard Goebel | n/a | Archiv 410 502 | 8:02 |
| Beethoven, Ludwig van | Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra in c, Op. 80 | New York Philharmonic, Westminster Choir | Leonard Bernstein | Rudolf Serkin (pno) | Sony SM2K 47522 | 8:07 |
| Brahms, Johannes | Variations and Fugue on a Theme of handel, Op.24 | n/a | n/a | Olga Kern (pno) | HMU 907392 | 8:28 |
| Tchaikovsky, Pyotr I. | Piano Concerto #2 in G, Op. 44 | Vienna Symphony Orchestra | Gennadi Rozhdestvensky | Victoria Postnikova (pno) | London 410 113 | 9:03 |
| Khachaturian, Aram | Sabre Dance | n/a | n/a | John Ogdon (pno) & Brenda Lucas (pno) | D Classics DC 703462 | 9:55 |
| Schubert, Franz | Lied: Mio ben Ricrodati, D. 688 (Metastasio) | n/a | n/a | Lucia Popp (sopr), Georg Fischer (pno) | GL 366 ADD | 10:01 |
| Hummel, Johann Nepomuk (cadenza by Oubradous) | Trumpet Concerto in Eflat | Berlin Philharmonic | von Karajan | Maurice André (trpt) | EMI 66961 | 10:04 |
| Telemann, Georg Philipp | Concerto in D for three trumpets, two oboes, timpani, strings and continuo | The Esterhazy Orchestra | n/a | David Blum | LP: The Bach Guild XSV 123870 | 10:26 |
| Debussy, Claude | Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune | Boston Symphony Orchestra | Michael Tilson Thomas | n/a | DG 469 130 | 10:34 |
| Schikele, Peter, as PDQ Bach | The Musical Sacrifice (Fuga Meshuga) | Members of the New York Pickup Ensemble | Schikele, (I think) | n/a | Telarc 80520 | 10:44 |
| Gould, Morton | American Symphonette No. 2 | Albany Symphony Orchestra | David Allan Miller | [The trumpet playr is not credited!] | Albany TROY1174 | 10:49 (I really like this composition!) |
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Verizon: Outrageous? Where's the outcry?
Verizon has just notified me about a few changes in their terms of service. One change is a doozy. I quote:
Home Router Password Changes. Section 10.4 was updated to clarify that Verizon may in limited instances modify administrative passwords for home routers in order to safeguard Internet security and our network, the security and privacy of subscriber information, to comply with the law, and/or to provide, upgrade and maintain service.
I would be only slightly more outraged if Verizon told me they had decided they had the right to change the passwords on my computer. I OWN my router. How dare they claim the right to override how I wish to administer it?
I can imagine situations in which Verizon's new 'right' will enable them to smoothly upgrade my service, or disable me if I am an unrepentant hacker. Or if I download too much data. Or if I upload something they feel is awful.
Now, perhaps you're thinking: Don't be silly; for FIOS, Verizon owns the router, and so they have the right to control it. I wonder if that's the case, but if it is: I prefer to own my router thank you, and to pick the DNS of my choice, even if that means never 'upgrading' to FIOS.
Home Router Password Changes. Section 10.4 was updated to clarify that Verizon may in limited instances modify administrative passwords for home routers in order to safeguard Internet security and our network, the security and privacy of subscriber information, to comply with the law, and/or to provide, upgrade and maintain service.
I would be only slightly more outraged if Verizon told me they had decided they had the right to change the passwords on my computer. I OWN my router. How dare they claim the right to override how I wish to administer it?
I can imagine situations in which Verizon's new 'right' will enable them to smoothly upgrade my service, or disable me if I am an unrepentant hacker. Or if I download too much data. Or if I upload something they feel is awful.
Now, perhaps you're thinking: Don't be silly; for FIOS, Verizon owns the router, and so they have the right to control it. I wonder if that's the case, but if it is: I prefer to own my router thank you, and to pick the DNS of my choice, even if that means never 'upgrading' to FIOS.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Polluting the News and wasting everyone’s time:
I’m very interested in how the Wilpons will deal with their finances, and whether they will sell all or part of the New York Mets. I set up a Google News Alert on this story, and I’ve been getting notifications for months. I cannot believe how many people have rewritten this story for their own websites or newspapers. The same few facts show up over, and over, and over, and they show up all over. There’s speculation, too, usually the same old speculation, about the same scant facts. If news stories in general are treated like this, then “news” must be an industry that hires and supports far more people than the world needs, to write the same news over and over again.
Of course, that’s good news for those news-writing people.
And it’s a familiar story to me. I spent my career in software, well aware of exactly why there was so much demand for programmers: companies need them to write the same software, over and over, and over, all over. Programmers exaggerate this trend with their innate “Not Invented Here” feelings. Companies drive this trend by rushing to create “me too” products, just like their advanced competitors, to stay in business. Pick a recent app that you like; chances are that ten groups of programmers are being paid to emulate it and add a little something, to steal away some of the business.
Mankind is an awful thing to waste, and this is one way it’s done. Let’s not even talk, as the New York Times does this week, about how research scientists spend more than 40% of their time trying to raise research money, and how the people who give away the grants prefer to play it safe rather than fund something that might be a spectacular advance. I'll get back into a good mood as soon as I can.
Of course, that’s good news for those news-writing people.
And it’s a familiar story to me. I spent my career in software, well aware of exactly why there was so much demand for programmers: companies need them to write the same software, over and over, and over, all over. Programmers exaggerate this trend with their innate “Not Invented Here” feelings. Companies drive this trend by rushing to create “me too” products, just like their advanced competitors, to stay in business. Pick a recent app that you like; chances are that ten groups of programmers are being paid to emulate it and add a little something, to steal away some of the business.
Mankind is an awful thing to waste, and this is one way it’s done. Let’s not even talk, as the New York Times does this week, about how research scientists spend more than 40% of their time trying to raise research money, and how the people who give away the grants prefer to play it safe rather than fund something that might be a spectacular advance. I'll get back into a good mood as soon as I can.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Musical Expression, and the lack thereof:
This week’s Science section in the New York Times had an interesting article about expression in music, featuring research by Daniel Levitin. The article reminded me of a fascinating experience I had in graduate school, in the 1960’s.
The music department was paying undergraduates to keypunch all of the masses of Josquin des Prez, who,whenever his music is not performed in a sappy way, is easily recognizable as the Beethoven of the sixteenth century.
We had devised a scheme for coding his (mostly four part, polyphonic) music, and we faced the giant challenge of proofreading it. Proofing the codes was really horrible, and I came up with an alternative: we could feed the codes into a newly-installed mainframe program that generated music from (differently encoded) input. I managed to make tapes from the Josquin codes that sounded like an organ playing the music. We listened to this output, and it was easy to find the coding mistakes that made wrong notes.
These tapes sounded beautiful, even though the computer was unable to add any “expression” to the music, and there were no instructions in our codes to suggest any musical expression. I’m pretty sure I know why this musical output was so striking.
Modern singers, no matter how hard they try to adapt their style to ancient music, tend to accent the first beat of every measure. That’s how music has always worked for a long time, and it is deeply ingrained in our nature. The computer music was not making these accents.
We can be pretty sure from sixteenth century accounts, that singers of the time made no such downbeat accents. Instead, they accented each long note that was preceded by a short note. Our computer added no such accents, but still, it more nearly approached the type of performance that Josquin intended by eliminating the anachronistic downbeat accents. As a result, our computer approached closer to the heart of the music than most modern performances.
As for the expression we experienced listening to our tapes: the mind is a mysterious thing, both ours, and Josquin’s.
The music department was paying undergraduates to keypunch all of the masses of Josquin des Prez, who,whenever his music is not performed in a sappy way, is easily recognizable as the Beethoven of the sixteenth century.
We had devised a scheme for coding his (mostly four part, polyphonic) music, and we faced the giant challenge of proofreading it. Proofing the codes was really horrible, and I came up with an alternative: we could feed the codes into a newly-installed mainframe program that generated music from (differently encoded) input. I managed to make tapes from the Josquin codes that sounded like an organ playing the music. We listened to this output, and it was easy to find the coding mistakes that made wrong notes.
These tapes sounded beautiful, even though the computer was unable to add any “expression” to the music, and there were no instructions in our codes to suggest any musical expression. I’m pretty sure I know why this musical output was so striking.
Modern singers, no matter how hard they try to adapt their style to ancient music, tend to accent the first beat of every measure. That’s how music has always worked for a long time, and it is deeply ingrained in our nature. The computer music was not making these accents.
We can be pretty sure from sixteenth century accounts, that singers of the time made no such downbeat accents. Instead, they accented each long note that was preceded by a short note. Our computer added no such accents, but still, it more nearly approached the type of performance that Josquin intended by eliminating the anachronistic downbeat accents. As a result, our computer approached closer to the heart of the music than most modern performances.
As for the expression we experienced listening to our tapes: the mind is a mysterious thing, both ours, and Josquin’s.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The last Typewriter Manufacturer is Gone:
Via Slashdot, I've learned from this Atlantic article that the last typewriter manufacturer, Godrej and Boyce (in Mumbai) has shut its doors. (Business got slow there after 2000).
There are many writers who feel that the pace of typing stirs their creative juices. I've been editing and correcting on computers all my adult life, so I'm not one of them.
I do have happy memories of my father's Underwood, on which he drafted many a fine brief. Quite a few of its keys had a beautiful brownish-orange cast, the result of my obtaining tincture of iodine from the bathroom when I was three, and spilling it into the machine, which stoutly survived. Pressing the Underwood's keys was interesting. They didn't all move the same, and some traveled much farther than others, to reach the page.
There are many writers who feel that the pace of typing stirs their creative juices. I've been editing and correcting on computers all my adult life, so I'm not one of them.
I do have happy memories of my father's Underwood, on which he drafted many a fine brief. Quite a few of its keys had a beautiful brownish-orange cast, the result of my obtaining tincture of iodine from the bathroom when I was three, and spilling it into the machine, which stoutly survived. Pressing the Underwood's keys was interesting. They didn't all move the same, and some traveled much farther than others, to reach the page.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Blue Banana Story:
The Blue Banana is not my story, but it deserves to be better known. I shall tell it as I got it from Jeremy Pollack, who told it to me when I asked him why he had a blue-hued banana in his office. (Actually, it was THE blue banana, as you shall see.) The same story is told (differently) here, but I prefer to believe that Jeremy got it right.
SRI, across Route 1 near Princeton, which is also Sarnoff, used to be the development lab of RCA. It is the place where color TV was born. There was a time when there was exactly one color TV transmitter, and fewer than a dozen sets outside the labs that could receive the color signal. These sets were of course in the homes of specially-entitled RCA employees, who got to show off a little color TV to their friends. Not much, mind you! The one color camera might just be pointed at a fixed scene, and if you were one of the lucky ones, you could view that tableau on your color TV.
George Brown was working late one night when he got a call from an RCA executive. Could he please point the camera at something interesting? The exec wanted to show off the new color technology to his guests.
Well, you can imagine how Brown felt. The only reason he was at work was to handle some desperate, date-driven crisis. He politely told the exec he would get right on it. He collected a bowl of fruit from a handy fridge, aranged it in a bowl, and worked in a banana that he painted blue. He pointed the camera at the bowl, called the exec back, and told him everything was all set. Then Brown went back to dealing with his crisis.
The panic call came about fifteen minutes later. The exec had tried everything, but he couldn't get natural colors on all the fruits at once. Something horrible was wrong. Could Brown please check?
Brown waited a few seconds before resuming the call. "I looked," he said. "The colors on my TV set here are the same as the colors in the fruit bowl. It's okay."
There were a few more disruptive panic calls, but Brown didn't mind. He savored his revenge. Everyone at the labs got to hear this story, and it created a historical precedent of sorts. Whenever the labs issued a new advance in handling color, including standards for color compression, their sample illustrations always included a bowl of fruit with a blue banana. You can look it up.
SRI, across Route 1 near Princeton, which is also Sarnoff, used to be the development lab of RCA. It is the place where color TV was born. There was a time when there was exactly one color TV transmitter, and fewer than a dozen sets outside the labs that could receive the color signal. These sets were of course in the homes of specially-entitled RCA employees, who got to show off a little color TV to their friends. Not much, mind you! The one color camera might just be pointed at a fixed scene, and if you were one of the lucky ones, you could view that tableau on your color TV.
George Brown was working late one night when he got a call from an RCA executive. Could he please point the camera at something interesting? The exec wanted to show off the new color technology to his guests.
Well, you can imagine how Brown felt. The only reason he was at work was to handle some desperate, date-driven crisis. He politely told the exec he would get right on it. He collected a bowl of fruit from a handy fridge, aranged it in a bowl, and worked in a banana that he painted blue. He pointed the camera at the bowl, called the exec back, and told him everything was all set. Then Brown went back to dealing with his crisis.
The panic call came about fifteen minutes later. The exec had tried everything, but he couldn't get natural colors on all the fruits at once. Something horrible was wrong. Could Brown please check?
Brown waited a few seconds before resuming the call. "I looked," he said. "The colors on my TV set here are the same as the colors in the fruit bowl. It's okay."
There were a few more disruptive panic calls, but Brown didn't mind. He savored his revenge. Everyone at the labs got to hear this story, and it created a historical precedent of sorts. Whenever the labs issued a new advance in handling color, including standards for color compression, their sample illustrations always included a bowl of fruit with a blue banana. You can look it up.
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Incredibly Shrinking Cubicles:
In the mid 1980's, Intel had a development facility in Plainsboro, NJ. We filled a two-story office building, a sea of cubicles, for about 150 people.
Development on a major new chip had begun, and the VP for hardware asked our wonderful, friendly, competent building manager to prepare for forty designers to relocate to our building from the coast, in three months.
"Where are we going to put them?" she asked. The building's full!"
"Think of something," he said.
And she did.
If all the cubes on the first floor were made a little smaller, she could free up the required space. Logistics would be complex, because the freed space had to appear in one place, and people had to be minimally unsettled by all the changes. She planned a sequence of events. Movers worked day after day, making their minimal changes, and some open floor began to apear.
One day she looked at the calendar, and she was deeply puzzled. She rushed off to the hardware veep and asked him, "Larry, where are those forty engineers that I've been making space for? Aren't some of them supposed to be here by now?
"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" he said. "Two months ago, they decided not to come."
Our cubicles never regained their lost space.
Development on a major new chip had begun, and the VP for hardware asked our wonderful, friendly, competent building manager to prepare for forty designers to relocate to our building from the coast, in three months.
"Where are we going to put them?" she asked. The building's full!"
"Think of something," he said.
And she did.
If all the cubes on the first floor were made a little smaller, she could free up the required space. Logistics would be complex, because the freed space had to appear in one place, and people had to be minimally unsettled by all the changes. She planned a sequence of events. Movers worked day after day, making their minimal changes, and some open floor began to apear.
One day she looked at the calendar, and she was deeply puzzled. She rushed off to the hardware veep and asked him, "Larry, where are those forty engineers that I've been making space for? Aren't some of them supposed to be here by now?
"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" he said. "Two months ago, they decided not to come."
Our cubicles never regained their lost space.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The Ring...
For about thirty years, I have been unable to remove my wedding ring. (I weighed less when I got married.) The ring was never a problem, more of a constant companion. Until recently, when the skin beneath it got quite irritated. I decided that I had to take my ring-finger problem to a dermatologist or a jeweler; I wasn't sure which.
Now my dermatologist's office is in the same building as my physical therapist. So after therapy today, I went up one floor to consult the dermatologist's receptionist.
"I'll tell you what they told me to do when I was pregnant," she said. "Spray Windex all over your finger and it'll come off."
I did, and it did. I was quite amazed, especially since the knuckle joint seemed so large; but you never know.
Now my dermatologist's office is in the same building as my physical therapist. So after therapy today, I went up one floor to consult the dermatologist's receptionist.
"I'll tell you what they told me to do when I was pregnant," she said. "Spray Windex all over your finger and it'll come off."
I did, and it did. I was quite amazed, especially since the knuckle joint seemed so large; but you never know.
iPad Apps: Searching, Searching....
I have received my birthday iPad2, and the fun has begun. I’ve been avidly searching the web to find apps that I’ll want to try. I’m fascinated that it has taken some thought to find the variety, and categories of apps, that I want. I started with:
iPad apps reviews
But soon a bit of imagination kicked in:
iPad apps reviews best
iPad apps reviews games
iPad apps reviews expensive (A few cost $hundreds!)
iPad apps reviews valuable
iPad apps reviews organizers
iPad "app of the day"
iPad apps reviews timewasters ...
With my iPad finally here, I doubt I'll have any time to look for any more apps.
iPad apps reviews
But soon a bit of imagination kicked in:
iPad apps reviews best
iPad apps reviews games
iPad apps reviews expensive (A few cost $hundreds!)
iPad apps reviews valuable
iPad apps reviews organizers
iPad "app of the day"
iPad apps reviews timewasters ...
With my iPad finally here, I doubt I'll have any time to look for any more apps.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Look out at the Sports Cars...
Three times in my life, I’ve been fascinated by all the sports cars parked outside. I’m going to assemble these memories for you.
The most recent time: There were undesirable changes at the garage that had been fixing our car, so we tried a different guy. We had a recommendation, but he was a character, and his garage was a strange, old-fashioned jumble. But outside his garage was an assortment of sports cars, very expensive vehicles, and he was working on some of them. If they trusted him, I could, and I relaxed.
The first time: I was no longer a grad student at the university. My wife was, and we wished to continue living in the official (and inexpensive) grad student housing. A dean was kicking us out. His reason? The “head of the household” was not a student. He told us that since I was not a student, I was in a position to earn money, and had no need for the housing.
“Is this a means test?” I asked. “Do you query grad students about their means?”
He conceded he didn’t.
I told him that about a quarter of the people living in grad student housing had sports cars! I had definitely scored a point, but it was not the decision-maker that enabled us to stay.
The other time: I was working at an Exxon-enabled startup. We had swelled to a hundred employees and moved into a brand new, four-story business building. I was looking down at the parking lot with our CEO, as he sadly shook his head.
“Too many sports cars out there,” he said. “The salaries we’re paying are way too high.”
The most recent time: There were undesirable changes at the garage that had been fixing our car, so we tried a different guy. We had a recommendation, but he was a character, and his garage was a strange, old-fashioned jumble. But outside his garage was an assortment of sports cars, very expensive vehicles, and he was working on some of them. If they trusted him, I could, and I relaxed.
The first time: I was no longer a grad student at the university. My wife was, and we wished to continue living in the official (and inexpensive) grad student housing. A dean was kicking us out. His reason? The “head of the household” was not a student. He told us that since I was not a student, I was in a position to earn money, and had no need for the housing.
“Is this a means test?” I asked. “Do you query grad students about their means?”
He conceded he didn’t.
I told him that about a quarter of the people living in grad student housing had sports cars! I had definitely scored a point, but it was not the decision-maker that enabled us to stay.
The other time: I was working at an Exxon-enabled startup. We had swelled to a hundred employees and moved into a brand new, four-story business building. I was looking down at the parking lot with our CEO, as he sadly shook his head.
“Too many sports cars out there,” he said. “The salaries we’re paying are way too high.”
Friday, April 15, 2011
Searching is not Problem-Solving:
Jakob Neilsen is a deep researcher into Web Useability issues (and other user interface issues as well). His April essay, Incompetent Research Skills Curb Users' Problem Solving, is a wakeup call about how mindlessly we use search engines when we need to discover something. I can see myself in some of the inefficient search patterns he describes, and he gives me excellent suggestions about how to improve.
I learned a new Acronym from this article: SERP (the first search engine results page). Neilsen explains, indirectly, why 'SERP' deserves to be an an acronym: It's much more important than it ought to be.
Recognizing that most people will not use Search engines better, Neilsen even has recommendations for making websites more attuned to normal search behaviors. I think his thoughtful article can make us better Googlers. Give it a try.
Happy Birthday, Samantha!
Jakob Neilsen is a deep researcher into Web Useability issues (and other user interface issues as well). His April essay, Incompetent Research Skills Curb Users' Problem Solving, is a wakeup call about how mindlessly we use search engines when we need to discover something. I can see myself in some of the inefficient search patterns he describes, and he gives me excellent suggestions about how to improve.
I learned a new Acronym from this article: SERP (the first search engine results page). Neilsen explains, indirectly, why 'SERP' deserves to be an an acronym: It's much more important than it ought to be.
Recognizing that most people will not use Search engines better, Neilsen even has recommendations for making websites more attuned to normal search behaviors. I think his thoughtful article can make us better Googlers. Give it a try.
Happy Birthday, Samantha!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Peanuts (Pogo):
Our local newspaper runs the “Classic Peanuts” comic strip, cartoons that Charles Schultz penned during his lifetime. Occasionally I read the Peanuts, and sometimes I laugh; but I try as hard as I can to avoid the strip altogether.
Charles Schultz and I have a long, uneasy history. In my teens, in the 1950’s, there was one hip, delicious, aware, political and genuinely arty comic strip: Walt Kelly’s Pogo. I loved it, and I still have all my Pogo books. My friends loved it, too, and we used to discuss the random, crazy, finer points of Pogo. But then, in the mid fifties, I discovered that my friends were abandoning Pogo for some other comic strip, a poorly drawn one (in comparison): Peanuts.
I looked Peanuts over and found it terribly wanting. But to stay au courant with my friends, I had to follow it.
I parted company with Schultz when he was still alive, after reading what he believed was the essence of cartooning. He said, “The job of a cartoonist is to say the same thing, over and over, without anybody noticing.” That’s when I tried to go off Peanuts altogether.
It’s a pity that there is no “Classic Pogo”. Although the comic strip is long dead (Kelly died in 1973), its observations about politics, art and human nature are as vibrant and in-your-face as ever. Walt Kelly was a weird, random, and thoughtful kind of guy. The people who worked at his newspaper got used to him, as illustrated by this brief anecdote: Kelly called the office. The receptionist who picked up the phone recognized his voice. She said, “Hello, Mr. Kelly. Is it about anything?”
Charles Schultz and I have a long, uneasy history. In my teens, in the 1950’s, there was one hip, delicious, aware, political and genuinely arty comic strip: Walt Kelly’s Pogo. I loved it, and I still have all my Pogo books. My friends loved it, too, and we used to discuss the random, crazy, finer points of Pogo. But then, in the mid fifties, I discovered that my friends were abandoning Pogo for some other comic strip, a poorly drawn one (in comparison): Peanuts.
I looked Peanuts over and found it terribly wanting. But to stay au courant with my friends, I had to follow it.
I parted company with Schultz when he was still alive, after reading what he believed was the essence of cartooning. He said, “The job of a cartoonist is to say the same thing, over and over, without anybody noticing.” That’s when I tried to go off Peanuts altogether.
It’s a pity that there is no “Classic Pogo”. Although the comic strip is long dead (Kelly died in 1973), its observations about politics, art and human nature are as vibrant and in-your-face as ever. Walt Kelly was a weird, random, and thoughtful kind of guy. The people who worked at his newspaper got used to him, as illustrated by this brief anecdote: Kelly called the office. The receptionist who picked up the phone recognized his voice. She said, “Hello, Mr. Kelly. Is it about anything?”
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