Day: January 5, 2020

My Week Ending 2020-01-05

by dougpete, posted in Just Rambling

Here’s a summary of some of the things I learned and published this week.

Readings 

You can follow my daily readings as they happen here.  Below are a selected few, with commentary, from the past week.

  • Just in time for the cold and flu season, some of the myths get proved wrong. Have you got your flu shot yet?
  • Forget the history of the last decade and return to Y2K. This is all about how Canada got ready for the big problems that actually didn’t arise.
  • It’s the best solution for those who are still running Windows 7 and know that support is coming to an end. And, instead of paying and upgrading to Windows 10, why not Linux?
  • It’s the season for click-bait stories and I went for this one about someone’s favourite things on the Internet.
  • Teachers are amazing human beings. Here’s a look back at inspirational moments from teachers.
  • One of the most shared “worst of” stories of the year. I wonder how many people actually read the list or just passed it on. Lots to agree with; lots to disagree with but it’s just another opinion piece after all.
  • This will probably make next decade’s worst of stories but I believe that IoT will have a big impact. Use it wisely.
  • Stuff stolen in Canada. Sad. But, hang in there to the end of the article and it will restore your faith in Canadians.
  • I read these bad passwords articles all the time. I wonder why it’s limited to 2019. I can honestly say that none of my passwords have appeared in the articles that I’ve read….yet!
  • Resistance is futile. What else can I say? Just when you think you’re ahead of the game, big tech overtakes.
  • This is a sobering story about all the internet use that we all are guilty of. What’s the impact on the environment?
  • Here we go again with another strategic walkout from OSSTF. This time, it’s local.
  • We’ve actually become big fans of McDonald’s coffee. I refuse to pay Starbuck’s prices and to stand in line at Tim Horton‘s behind someone who wants a bagel lightly toasted, a bit of margarine, some cream cheese, and … I remember when it was a very convenient place to get a great cuppa.
  • Exhibit A for a reminder that silly things you say in the past will come back to haunt you. Big time.
  • This is a must read article for students who doubt that Google or some other search engine will find them. This is how.
  • Enhancements for smartphones are mind-blowing. But they still don’t answer the question – you need to pay over $1000 for one.

Blog Posts on doug … off the record

My daily contributions to this blog.

#FollowFriday – January 3, 2020

https://wke.lt/w/s/IsNwWx

voicEd Radio

My on demand radio page can be found here.  

This week’s show – https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/december-31-looking-back-twioe-in-2019/

Intro song

Blog posts this week came from:

Technology Troubleshooting

My old iPod Nano went through the new washing machine. It still works but the battery is kaputskies. It doesn’t make for a companion for a dog walking.

So, for Christmas, my lovely wife bought me a new iPod Touch. Great! I plugged it into my MacBook Pro and was delighted that it offered to copy a backup over. Great again! I let it do its thing and returned to check it out.

Sadly, and even though I think I backup regularly, it restored a really old version. Now, if it was just the music, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

But, somehow it backed up with an email address that I no longer have access to. On the Apple Store, I’ve changed to the one that I use but that wasn’t good enough for this iPod.

With the integration with iCloud, it would ask me every 3 seconds it seems to log into that account. I CAN’T APPLE. Just let me do a restore or go back to factory settings. No go as far as I can see because it expects me to log out of the account that I can’t log in to.

My solution? Just turn the wifi off. It plays music very nicely.

Video of the Week

More click bait for Doug.

Photo of the Week

My wife and I went to Bright Lights Windsor and one of the tunnels made a nice backdrop for a selfie/wifey.

I need to learn how to handle a short person in such a shot.

Thanks for reading. Please join me daily for something new and, hopefully, interesting.

dp

This blog post was originally posted at:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com/

If you find it anywhere else, it’s not original.

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Whatever happened to …

by dougpete, posted in Just Rambling

… Keith Jackson?

This one is just for me. And, maybe for you or for a broadcaster of your favourite genre.

New Year’s Day is special around here. At 11:00, everything stops and we watch the Rose Bowl parade. Pro tip – watch it on KTLA since there are no commercials.

The design of the floats and the implementation with all the natural content is simply amazing. I’ve also joked that the Simon Norton museum has to be the best example of product placement ever. As the floats turn onto Colorado Boulevard, every camera shot has the museum in the background. A fun activity is to head to Google Maps and so a Streetview of the actual parade route. On January 1, it was marked nicely.

Later in the afternoon, there is of course, the Rose Bowl football game. The size and layout of the stadium never fails to impress. For years, the announcer of the game was Keith Jackson. With the Rose Bowl and all of the other college games he called, there was always something special. Jackson had a certain presence on the show and you knew that it was a special game when he got the assignment.

He could turn the most boring of plays and of games into exciting ones just by his voice. And, as much as I enjoy watching football, I will admit that it can drag by at times.

If you ever heard “Whoa Nellie”, you can never unhear it.

These days, I’d be hard pressed to give the name of an announcer that is associated with US College football. There doesn’t appear to be anyone who has the uniqueness and mannerisms of Keith Jackson. You probably can’t blame the current group of announcers; it may well be a tactical decision by the networks to have a cookie-cutter type of approach. It seems that anyone who wants to exude personality and move to the cutting edge is on the pre-game show. Maybe that way it can be recorded rather than taking chance on something coming out live?

Thankfully, we have YouTube to make sure that we never forget that wonderful call. Sadly, Keith Jackson is no longer with us.

For a Sunday, how about some thoughts about Jackson and/or the Rose Bowl?

  • can you name an announcer or show host that is synonymous with its content?
  • like any good announcer, Keith Jackson broadcast other sports. Can you name some of?
  • are you a fan of the Rose Bowl parade?
  • in what city can you find the Rose Bowl?
  • other than the Big 10 / PAC 12 matchup, what else is the Rose Bowl known for/as?
  • what’s the nickname for the Rose Bowl game? If you’ve ever watched the game, you’ve heard it many times

I know this topic may be a little niche for some but if you’ve got a thought or two, please share in the comments.

“Whatever happened to …” is a regular Sunday post around here. You can check all the previous posts here. I’m always open to ideas for a future post. Just let me know.

This post appears at:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com

If you read it anywhere else, it’s not the original.

OTR Links 01/05/2020

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.