I now realize that I see my child as 2 people occupying the same space:

  1. There's the person I love more than anything in the world.
  2. And there's the jackass numbskull with no regard for the personal safety of person 1.
 

#SaveTheBugle

Jesse, you bring The Bugle into the MaxFun family and I'll instantly up my monthly contribution. 

 

Food matters (cc @joshnamaharaj)

Why don't we use this

to do this

?

 

Genitrans!

Img_20111009_100924-1

This would be a great name for a business specializing in things that I think might be legal in Thailand.

 

Apple TV: things I've figured out since I got an awesome new receiver.

Me and Apple TV, we've been through some times.

There was a time when it seemed to refuse to play purchased content except when it was pushed from my desktop. You could navigate to it, and you could select it, but it would fail to start playback: instead, it advised that the content wasn't authorized for playing on this device, whatever that means. So you couldn't navigate from the couch, and couldn't play music through airtunes while video (ie. Sesame Street) played on the TV.

But since I got an awesome new receiver things have improved. Here's why.

  • My old receiver had a power outlet for low-consumption components. Like Apple TV, for example. Every time you turned off the receiver, it turned off the outlet. My new receiver doesn't have this. Apple TV stays plugged into the wall, where power is continuously available. Since changing to this new configuration we haven't had authorization problems. Apple TV works like it should.
    • To offset power vampirism (minimal in a device with no moving parts) we've retired both the CD player and the VCR.
  • You can't get multi-channel Dolby Digital sound out of Apple TV through the optical outlet. There was a time it used to work, but the last firmware update killed that. You want DD, you need HDMI. And if you've got Netflix, you want DD.

I hope I never give that little black box any more thought than I've given it in the last couple of weeks.

 

 

Google, it's not too late to save Latitude

This week Apple announced a feature available in iOS 5 that you won't find on their iPhone site:Find My Friends. 

It's Google's Latitude designed for normal people.

It's pretty clear Apple's making a play for platform lock-in with built-in apps such as FMF and iMessage. It's all functionality you can get elsewhere, but nothing will be as elegant as Apple's integrated versions. 

What's Google to do?

Well, they haven't lost yet, but they sure are trying. People love Gmail. And they love Google Calendar. But they don't love Latitude. But they could. And they could love them all together.

Here, for your benefit, are some ideas I wish I'd committed to writing months ago.

  • Tie Calendar to Latitude by allowing meeting organizers to request Latitude access for 1 hour prior to the appointment and throughout it.
    • Positioning Latitude as a vague expansion of the social web hasn't worked. Position it instead as a tool that bridges maps and scheduling -- the 2 key features that distinguish a smartphone from what we had before we had smartphones. Latitude should be about sharing location when it matters with who it matters to.
    • Request Latitude access by default from meeting invitees. Apple's going to make location sharing mainstream anyway: now is not the time to be shy. Get Latitude installed on every smartphone in every pocket as fast as possible.
      • I trained my mom to book family get-togethers in Google Calendar years ago: I just gave her access to my Latitude location and she loves it. No more calling to ask where we are or if we got home safe. If she could install it on her work-issued nannified BB, she would so she could share her location with my stepdad.
    • Create a dashboard for the meeting organizer to see everybody's ETA. 
      • Green: accepted the meeting and ETA has them on-time.
      • Yellow: accepted the meeting and ETA has them arriving late.
      • Red: ETA has them missing the event entirely, or they've declined.
      • And every invitee's name has a clock next to it: this is when they turn invisible again.
  • Kill Google Talk (yes, it's still hanging on, and you never visit anymore) and replace it with the Messenger component of Google+. Better yet, with GTalk dead, merge Messenger and Hangouts to create a Skype-killing masterpiece of group communication.
    • Enable chatting parties to view one another's locations. 
    • Make it so that I can enable location-sharing-while-chatting with only the Circles I choose. This way I can freely enter a hangout without risk of unintended location exposure.
    • Oddly enough, on Android phones it seems that engaging someone on Google Talk tends to refresh their position on Latitude. So it would seem that someone in Google is already thinking about this. Please push on and be bold.
 

A university education working overtime (cc @UofTMagazine)

Just hung up after this conversation. The time is 9:30.

Guy calling from U of T: "Hello, my name is Mohamed. May I please speak to [unrecognizable mispronunciation of what I *think* was my wife's name]?"

Me: "No, I'm afraid she's indisposed."

Mo: "Oh, she's passed away?"

Me: "..."

Mo: "..."

Me: "No, she's not at liberty to take this call."

Mo: "Oh she's busy."

Me: "That's right."

Mo: "Can you say when would be a good time to call to update her on the university's latest news and initiatives?"

Me: "Try before 9:30."

Mo: "Before 9:30?"

Me: "Yeah it's a little late. Goodnight."

 

Best. Party. Ever.

Img_20111002_171328
 

New rule for Sunday morning running in downtown Toronto #RunTO

No turning back home until you've cleared 10k or helped a tourist.
 

Twenty-Five Pieces of Basic Sartorial Knowledge So You Don’t Look Dumb (via @putthison)

When I’m interviewed about men’s style and Put This On, I’m almost invariably asked “what are the fashion mistakes you see men make every day?” or “what is the most basic style knowledge men often don’t have?”

That’s the kind of stuff I usually leave off this blog. After all: you’re discerning and tasteful! But every time I see some incredibly basic principle violated, I cringe. So: for the benefit of your slovenly coworker our your teenage cousin or your uncle who’s never had a job, I wrote this. Forward it to them. Anonymously, if you must.

Below are twenty-five pieces of vital information that every man over 14 in the Western world should know. Every man. No excuses. Seriously. Seriously.

  1. Unbutton the bottom button of your jacket. It’s not intended to be buttoned.
  2. Same goes for your vest.
  3. Remove the tags on the sleeves of your jacket before you wear it.
  4. Jackets sometimes come with white basting thread on their shoulders or holding closed their vents. Remove this thread before wearing the jacket.
  5. Jacket pockets are intended to be opened. Use a small scissor or seam ripper.
  6. More than three jacket buttons is never appropriate for anything.
  7. On a three-button coat, buttoning the top button is optional, and some lapels are rolled so as to make the top button ornamental. In other words: if buttoning the top button seems wrong, it is.
  8. Brown shoes, brown belt. Black shoes, black belt.
  9. Belt or suspenders. Never belt and suspenders.
  10. Your jacket sleeve should be short enough to show some shirt cuff - about half an inch. 
  11. Your pants should end at your shoes without puddling. A slight or half break means that there is one modest inflection point in the front crease. If your pants break both front and back or if they break on the sides, they’re too long.
  12. Your coat should follow and flatter the lines of your upper body, not pool around them. You should be able to slip a hand in to get to your inside breast pocket, but if the jacket’s closed and you can pound your heart with your fist, it’s too big.
  13. When you buy a suit or sportcoat, it should be altered to fit by a tailor. This will cost between $25 and $100.
  14. Your tie should reach your belt line - it shouldn’t end above your belt or below it.
  15. Your tie knot should have a dimple.
  16. Only wear a tie if you’re also wearing a suit or sportcoat (or, very casually, a sweater). Shirt, tie and no jacket is the wedding uniform of a nine-year-old.
  17. The only men who should wear black suits during the day are priests, undertakers, secret agents, funerals attendees and yokels.
  18. Cell phone holsters are horrible.
  19. So are square-toed shoes.
  20. Never wear visible socks with shorts.
  21. Or any socks with sandals.
  22. If your shirt is tucked in, you should be wearing a belt (or suspenders, if you’re wearing a jacket as well, or your trousers should have side adjusters and no belt loops).
  23. Flip flops are great for the pool and the beach and not great for anything else. (Some say this is a matter of taste. We agree. If you have any taste, you will only wear flip-flops at the beach or pool.)
  24. Long ties are not appropriate with a tuxedo.
  25. Never wear polyester outside of the gym or theme parties.

If you see someone violating one of these basic principles, feel free to send them our way. We’ll straighten them out.

via putthison.com

If every man knew 1 through 5, the world would be a noticeably more stylish place.

About

Books. It's always books, books, books. I read more or less constantly and I've been very fortunate to maintain employment that in some respect indulges me in this.

I have a wife, dog, and kid. They're all really exceptional specimens of their respective kinds.

I've had the beard since just after I finished school. I have no idea what my face looks like underneath it.

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