The Baseball Post November 6, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: baseball, bobbleheadshrink, jack wilson, pirates
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I don’t talk about baseball much anymore. After several years, I determined my enthusiasm for and thoughts on the game would never align with other Pirates fans. Besides, while the game is great, the discussion hardly changes over time. I said my peace years ago.
Jack Wilson was one of the reasons I became obsessed with baseball starting in 2001. In 2009 I’m still apologizing for every single move the Pirates make. Jack Flash, as he’s called was able to make even a bad team (because of bad pitchers) enjoyable at their worst (when pitching) with his amazing defense. Every night he delivers a play in the field more magical than any three-run home run.
So it was pretty sad when the Bucs traded him at the trade deadline. Worse yet, they traded him from the National League to the American League, in his best year of work, defensively, thus removing him from Gold Glove cosideration.
Shortstop – Jack Wilson, Pittsburgh and Seattle
Wilson won’t win a Gold Glove this year. Just like Mark Teixeira didn’t win one last year. He split time between leagues, and the Gold Glove voters don’t know which league to put him in. Not so with The Fielding Bible Awards. Jack Wilson was the best shortstop in baseball last year. Period. We don’t care which league he played in. He led all shortstops in Run Saved by a wide margin (27 runs saved to Brendan Ryan’s 19) and has taken over the MLB lead for most Runs Saved over the last three years (51). Mr. Wilson is the Fielding Bible Award winner at shortstop for 2009.
It’s’ a fact. This was his most amazing year.
Field Bible Award was found via the excellent Bucs Dugout
Findings: 004 November 5, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: College Basketball, Langhorne Slim, NFL
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The NFL season is way too long. In my opinion it’s drags worse than baseball and hockey, even. College Basketball is perfect little package, both in length of game and season.
My frustration may have something to do with my six game losing streak in fantasy football.
I named my team the War Eagles, for the sole purpose of using this picture as my team avatar.
Hey, another Blogfest is coming up. Remember last year when I sang? Here’s the video…
Kung Fu Grippe November 4, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: Captain Beefheart, gijoe, merlin mann, ylnt
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A couple weeks ago I turned a friend’s email asking “What is knowledge and how do you know when you’ve acquired it?” into some of the most unwieldy cocktail chatter in history. I found a great cure for this epidemic in Merlin Mann’s description of the how people progress from beginner to expert to master (NSFW), which is where much of my knowledge chatter ended up, inevitably. He also includes a great explanation of why creative people have to “waste time” as part of their “work.” (If you have 40+ minutes, it’s a video anyone can appreciate.)
I’m overwhelmed by his tumblr feed, but lately I’ve worked through it because of how closely his musical interests align with my own. Specifically, I direct you to today’s post about Paul McCartney impersonating Ron Mael from Sparks. Merlin also co-hosts the podcast You Look Nice Today. I’m listening to the back catalog as therapy to overcome my anxiety with constantly interrupting and talking over other people. But Merlin is funny and smart when he interrupts, so it’s a lovely podcast, and you should consider subscribing.
There’s also this Captain Beefheart video, which you know I cannot resist posting.
Captain Beefheart – Bat Chain Puller
An aside: This is called Kung Fu Grippe because that’s the name of Merlin’s blog, but it reminded me of the G.I. Joe movie I finally saw. The movie was so awesomely bad, in part because it forced mentions of the G.I. Joe toys (like the “kung fu grip”) and incorporated impractical technology only because they were iconic vehicles in the toy series. This absurdity made the movie an overall better experience than Transformers, save for Megan Fox.
Findings: 003 November 3, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: bedtime
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“Mostly observant people appreciate my jokes.”
“Most jokes are based on observation. Perhaps you best communicate your observations to people who’ve already made similar observations?”
“So only making observant people laugh is a failure in delivery?”
“Why are you talking to yourself in a blog post?”
Findings: 002 November 3, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: candy, carnivores, dots, halloween, mycousinvinny, stragglers
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Dots are the stragglers in the halloween candy herd. They always get picked off first.
If there were TVs in the jungle the translucent critters would be devoured first.
I’m finished with this guy!
Findings: 001 November 2, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: candy, findings, halloween, reeses
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November 1st is the best shopping day of the year. Bags of candy available at discount. The discount is a flimsy excuse to buy candy I didn’t need, but it’s enough for me.
One bag of candy I bought was an assortment of Reese’s products. After a day of extensive research, I have proved my initial hypothesis. There should be no assortment of Reese’s products. Only one product need exist.
A Serious Resemblance October 30, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: movie review doppelganger
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My friend @mrscrappy congratulated me for making the cover of the Post Gazette’s Friday movie magazine.
Huh? Is there something about Andy Kaufman? I’m planning to dress as him for Halloween. (Btw, thanks to Dad for hooking me up with a 1979 sport coat, a turtleneck, and an ugly sweater in advance of the holiday party scene!)
Anyway, here’s how I made the Post-Gazette
The PG big review this week is of the latest Coen brothers movie.
The newest, and perhaps strangest, film from Oscar-winning writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen is a Jewish shaggy dog story of one man’s desperate search for clarity in a foggy universe with near-zero visibility. As such, it’s a brilliantly black-comic parable plumbing the depths of mortality and immortality, with Jefferson Airplane supplying the unlikely soundtrack and un-Judaic brackets to their parable.
#PCPGH4 Session Appetizer: The Semantic Web October 9, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: pcpgh4, pcpgh, semantic web, ontology, markup, information, web in general
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This is part of a short series of posts introducing Podcamp Pittsburgh 4.
I don’t get to talk with Vasco Pedro enough, or I don’t know enough other people to teach me about the semantic web and with whom I can kick around my underdeveloped understanding of ontology. It’s pretty darned fun, though. The possibilities for marking up information on the web so computers can understand it, thus helping them find it or process it beyond human capacity, is delightful.
As complex and expansive as semantics may be, it is already totally relevant to our practical lives. (see Google.com) So here Vasco will provide Podcampers with a little summary.
Smarter Media: The Semantic Web
An explanation of the semantic web and its uses most practical to users who generate content. Vasco Pedro co-founder and CEO of Bueda, a semantic-matching platform, and a research assistant at Carnegie Mellon University. Intermediate to Aspergers.
For a different opinion, I plan to read Cory Doctorow’s 2001 essay “Metacrap: Putting the tourch to seven straw-men of the meta-utopia.”
Doctorow’s seven insurmountable obstacles to reliable metadata are:
- People lie
- People are lazy
- People are stupid
- Mission Impossible: know thyself
- Schemas aren’t neutral
- Metrics influence results
- There’s more than one way to describe something
Of course, in 2001 Doctorow probably didn’t understand search engines would work as they do today.
#PCPGH4 Appetizer: See How I Did That – The @CynthiaCloskey’s Birthday Edition. October 8, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: Big Big Design, Cindy, pcpgh, pcpgh4, pgh bloggers
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This is part of a short series of posts introducing Podcamp Pittsburgh 4.
Let’s explain it one last time. My sister Cindy is also Cynthia, but apparently people think you have to be one or the other. I don’t get it. I call her Cindy most of the time, but often I refer to her as Cynthia, particularly whenever I state her full name.
Today is Cindy Closkey’s birthday. This Podcamp Pittsburgh she would like to tell you about professional use of social media, and personal blogging. She’ll also be helping my out by representing Joomla and WordPress on the Content Management System panel I’ve yet to find a sucker to moderate.
Re-Discovering the Voice of Your Blog
If blogging has stopped being fun and turned into a chore;
If you haven’t posted in weeks (or months);
If again and again you start posts but never finish them;
If you want to make a fresh start on your blog, then this session is for
you.Cynthia Closkey, co-founder of Pittsburgh Bloggers, has a plan to
reinvigorate your blog. In this session, she’ll help you define your focus,
create a strategy, and streamline your posting. She’ll also discuss how to
get past writing blocks and give you tools to get the words flowing again.
Your blog and your readers are waiting for you.
When I mentioned these sessions for the first draft of the schedule, each got an “Ooh.” See, she’s totally relevant, even at this age.
Selling Social Media to Your Boss: A 7 Step Plan
You know social media is a great tool for marketing, customer feedback, and
developing valuable communities. Your boss thinks it’s a waste of resources
– or even a danger to the organization. How can you make your case?In this session, Cynthia Closkey of Big Big Design will discuss what
managers and top-level executives need to know about social media and online
networking, highlights resources for finding examples and statistics that
carry weight, and shows you a simple plan for helping your organization move
ahead.
PCPGH4 Session Appetizer: Ladies of the Potomac Watershed October 7, 2009
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: consumerism, demo, information architecture, literary criticism, livescribe, pcpgh, pcpgh4
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This is part of a short series of posts introducing you to Podcamp Pittsburgh 4.
Dawn Papuga is another Podcamp Pittsburgh veteran, but she recently moved to Baltimore. Boo. Half serious, I long ago penciled her into the PCPGH4 schedule for “Memes: The 2009 Year in Review.” However, some folks felt such a topic might be a waste of precious Podcampers’ time. (As if!) We took it out.
Later, Dawn comes to me all, “Anthony, you left out my memes session!!” So I found a session we could throw out and offered a few brainier alternatives we could try. She took to one in particular, which touched on all her most special talents: literary criticism and online information.
A lot of people who may not have Facebook accounts or read blogs, and even get a printed newpaper delivered every day, will shop online, make a selection, and purchase it at their mall. The data about our consumer culture, specifically our consumed goods, is too good for the tech-illiterate to pass up, and too large for the tech-savvy to navigate without strangers’ opinions.
Some reviews are less social than others, some serve a more role in indexing and findability. Dawn’s session will give an overview of the major players and forms of online criticism. (Or at least this is my best guess.)
Comments & Criticism: The central nervous system of consumerism
Dawn Papuga of Lyrique Tragedy examines the importance of criticism and reviews as a means/tool for finding out about topics/books/issues you are interested in but have no idea where to start.
Kathleen Danielson is a senior studying International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, DC. When she isn’t studying political theory, she helps small to medium sized non-profits use social media to interact with their audiences in more meaningful ways. (She wrote that.)
Months ago, I saw the makers of a cool new gadget gave her a free sample of their product. It’s a “smart” pen. As you write, it records audio of the room (using two mics to filter the sound) and an infrared lens captures the position on the paper. You immediately get a digital copy of the audio and graphic, and by touching any area in the drawing or notes, you can jump to that point in the audio recording.
LiveScribe: Innovative tool for audio over graphic recording with web-ready playback
Student Kathleen Danielson will be showing off one of her favorite gadgets: the Livescribe smartpen. The pen records what you write along with audio and links them in their desktop program. As a student she uses it daily, and could see her reporter friends really benefiting from one of these. Come check it out and see if it might help you in your work. (No, she don’t work for Livescribe, she just like gadgets!)
Check out cool “pencasts” here. And check out Kathleen’s live demo at Podcamp Pittsburgh 4.
