Mixture Posture: May 2018

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Let's go Cena - Cena Sucks!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2778813-predicting-when-john-cena-returns-to-wwe-best-options-for-next-feud

Spoiler Alert

These Star Wars Theories About The Surprise 'Solo' Villain Are Too Legit To Ignore http://flip.it/yeSQLZ

'Roseanne' shows what the media got wrong about Trump voters https://www.yahoo.com/newsroom/vibes/politics/v-dbb2094c-7d9a-37c0-96b9-7f844af62e78_c-2a8bfc36-a2d6-3e3f-a7c7-8fc5f182d678_a-a1bf206e-3a8d-3777-811f-aa090e7a2320

WFH Working

https://launchpad.kinja.com/how-to-make-your-home-office-work-for-you-1824073533

Frustrating!

Something odd happened - my Adobe software is gone! I use Dreamweaver every day!! I submitted a ticket to the Help Desk so hopefully this is just temporary.

Here's how Adobe is integrated into my life at work.

This is on my Start menu - I created this group because they are apps that I wasn't using every day so I didn't want it to clutter the menu.

This is on my Start menu - Adobe created this group when it was installed. I used these programs more frequently.

This is what I see for the "Adobe Creative Cloud" - it says I can 'try' or 'buy' but I already had them.

Cold Forks

Alternate Versions of the MF

https://io9.gizmodo.com/these-30-alternate-designs-of-solos-millennium-falcon-a-1826424965

Gorgeous!!

I've now been not in a band for 1377 days (3 years, 9 months, 1 week, 1 day ). I question my Ideal Band doesn't exist. If I had found my Ideal Band, I might have been all over this set. I could envision creating the ever-elusive double-bass drum set that I have dreamed about since 1987, when I set up my own Ludwig Vistalites next to a 26" bass drum that Bill Biskup let me have at Kennedy. Originally, that drum had a gold-green-gold covering so I remember I spray painted it black. I also painted a 14" tom - man! that drum always sounded awesome! - and, somewhere, I have to think I still have the picture of me sitting behind it.

Without playing regularly in my Ideal Band, though, this set from the Craigslist > St. Louis > Musical Instruments page taunts me. I would never spend $1350 today (without having a regular gigging band) on this set of drums, even though it is nearly perfect.

I realize the text is kind of hard to read so here is what the ad says:

Ludwig Vistalite drums are known for their projection and striking appearance.
This 1974 vintage matched 5-piece set is in very good condition as it was played mostly at home, not subjected to the wear and tear of gigs.
Set includes: 5x14 snare, 14x22 bass, 8x12 and 9x13 rack toms, 16x16 floor tom.
Hardware includes: snare drum stand, double rack tom mount for bass drum, 2 Ludwig cymbal stands, Tama bass pedal, Rogers hi-hat and throne. Also including a Ludwig floor stand for rack toms, not original to the set but of matching vintage, which enables variable set-ups of the kit (see photos).
Cymbals are not included. Serious inquiries only please.

I don't like it when drum sellers show pictures of their drums with cymbals that are not for sale. I think it's a tease. Beyond that, these sizes are fantastic! I have always wanted an actual Vistalite snare and since I do not have a 5x14 snare, having a Vistalite would be a bonus. I have always wanted a 8x12 rack tom, though I would likely make this drum set be the bass drum by my left foot. That would mean I would likely never only have the 8x12 rack tom because it would create too much space between the 8x12 rack tom, which would be on my left, and my existing 13" rack tom, which would also be on the left side. I would not even mind having a 16x16 floor tom, even though it would be the third 16" floor tom I own. If only it was a 16x18 floor tom - how much awesomeness would that have been!!

The above shows how there could be a single mounted tom which, next to my existing drums, would be perfect.

I love the option of having the second tom not mounted to the bass drum.

And yet, there is the flexibility with it to have two mounted toms.

But, really, does it matter? The Craigslist > Iowa City > Community > Musicians page is without opportunity as is the Craigslist > Cedar Rapids > Community > Musicians page - no 'Drummer wanted for active band that gigs once a month with an awesome setlist' ads have appeared lately. In summary, I hope to look back at today and think, "Wow, May 31, 2018, was a low point that makes me appreciate how good things are, now that I found [Insert Ideal Band Name].

I will revisit this page on August 23, 2019, a Friday and the 5 year anniversary of when Uncle Rico the Band disbanded after our only gig at the Elk's Lodge in Iowa City. Perhaps things will change in the next 449 days (1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks, 2 days)...

Raisin' the Expectations, now that Cook & Moss are Back

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/hawkeyes/iowa-mens-basketball/tyler-cook-returning-to-hawkeyes-20180530

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Defending RB

USA TODAY: Here is a list of people who have come to Roseanne Barr's defense.

How R Died

http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/29/media/abc-disney-roseanne-barr/

Prove It

Can TWD Survive Without Rick Grimes?!?

Actual Pain

Behind the Curtain

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2018/5/29/17405454/leaked-raw-script-wwe-writers-promo-checklist

Saw S

I went to see "Solo: A Star Wars Story" last night. I liked it. I found it to not be as bad as some have claimed. There were some people that actually clapped when the "Directed by Ron Howard" credit kicked off the credits.

WARNING!!! The FOLLOWING VIDEO HAS SPOILERS!!

Coexisting Music Ecosystems

http://www.rethink-music.com/news/coexisting-music-ecosystems?curator=MusicREDEF

One and Done...

This happened yesterday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-television-roseanne/abc-cancels-roseanne-after-star-tweets-racial-slur-idUSKCN1IU2E0
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/05/29/roseanne-barr-offensive-tweeting-actually-nothing-new/652292002/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/roseanne-barr-apologizes-for-racist-tweet-about-valerie-jarrett-leaving-twitter/

Young and Taken Away

http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/05/29/anal-cunt-guitarist-josh-martin-45-killed-in-tragic-escalator-accident/

A L Leaves TWD

Wow. Will this impact "Fear the Walking Dead"?

Ireland Changes

The Industry is Responsible

I was curious about the teaser for this article, which implied that the "music industry" was responsible for a death so I clicked the link and got to the article - http://mixmag.net/feature/the-music-industry-should-be-held-accountable-for-aviciis-death-heres-why - only to read this nonsense:

On April 20, EDM superstar Avicii — real name Tim Bergling — died in Oman at the age of 28. Feverish speculation ensued. Had Bergling died of health problems related to his history of pancreatitis, following his well-documented struggle with alcoholism? The truth was even sadder. On April 24, Bergling’s family seemed to confirm what many had feared: Bergling had committed suicide.

I am not a bigwig in the music industry, but from my time writing music reviews for various websites, including dailyvault.com, I guess I consider myself a member of the music industry, but I, in not the slightest of ways, feel any responsibility for Avicii's suicide in Oman!

Yet, there I was, scrolling through the article, skimming paragraphs and skipping others if the first sentence didn't drag me to the second and then to the third, etc. Sometimes, oversized graphics with huge font text would force me to pause reading the actual article, such as when I came to this part of the page:

Someone had to have creativity and a mind unlike mine to think that plopping this giant graphic between paragraphs in the article was a good idea. True, the graphic demands the reader's attention. However, I can safely say that my mind would have vetoed the idea as being 'not good' and I wouldn't have made that choice.

That all said, I have the following conclusions:

I've never heard Avicii's music
I've no desire to listen to Avicii's music
I've no desire to seek Avicii's music out on youtube.com
I hope Avicii's family finds peace as they try to figure out why their family member is dead

Rizzo and the Slide

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2778447-report-mlb-told-cubs-pirates-anthony-rizzos-slide-at-home-was-interference

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Okay and this Means What Exactly...

Today, I was confronted with this message when I logged in to Blogger:

"What the hell is OpenID?!?" I was curious and so I clicked the Learn More link.

Big mistake!

I saw this page:

In theory, I realize this page https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/Wuem4GoXYXo likely was created to offer hope to users like me who want to read information about OpenID but that theory is severely lacking in execution since I still have no idea what OpenID means to me specifically.

Apparently, I'm not alone, judging by this comment:

I also clicked the Google Takeout link, hoping to read more about it, but I had to click another link to end up here https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190?hl=en so I clicked Back. I noticed a Blogger section. I have multiple blogs on Blogger but this is the only one I update regularly so I saw no sense in backing up all of my blogs. I selected the Select blogs option button.

When I clicked Blogs to select this specific blog, I saw this unhelpful window instead of a list of my blogs:

I get how Google has the world by the balls as far as being the number one thing going on in technology, but given my interactions with their site today, it's clear to me they are lacking in user experience expertise.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Metnal Health

This was on KCRG.

Why?!?

This was in a refrigerator at work.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Styles Feud

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2777855-aj-styles-vs-shinsuke-nakamura-last-man-standing-gimmick-destined-to-anger-fans

DL

https://youtu.be/T12iVCAS8GI

Friday, May 25, 2018

Solo Movie Review

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/solo-a-star-wars-story-2018

This was one of the many interesting comments I read on the above page.

Top 10 Most ... Moments

Clyde Crashcup

Easy

https://medium.com/@kesiparker/who-is-a-technical-writer-7e6e02f22b10

The author's bio for the above article is this:
I’m Freelance Technical Writer. My goal is to help beginners and show them that technical writing may be easy.

The author's bio states "My goal is to help beginners and show them that technical writing may be easy."

It made me pause and ask myself if I think technical writing is 'easy'?

I do.

I like to write.

I like techie stuff.

My career has been a combining those two interests into a way to provide food, shelter, and an education (I have 2 kids in college).

There have been days when I have stared at a blank screen, unsure of where to start. There have been days when I struggled with to understand a new tool or technology to do what I wanted it to do.

However, when I think about my career thus far, I do enjoy what I do and because I enjoy it, I do think it is easy. That easiness is the output of many years of doing similar tasks for over 20 years. It is why I plan to finish my 'work' career as a technical writer in 6514 days, which is when I reach my target of reaching 20 years of service at my current employer.

Pretty Sure I Covered This Type of Issue Elsewhere in the Maze of 6000 Posts.. But it Still Makes Me Smile

I do not have intimate knowledge of the job role who created the help text on my electric company's website. When I paid my electric bill today, I clicked the Help link and saw what you see to the left. For the sake of this post, I am assuming a technical writer wrote the help text you see.

That said, I do not understand how that technical writer can allow it to exist on the company's public website. It makes me think that either that technical writer doesn't work for the company or doesn't know how to fix it.

I'll hope for the first option, but suspect the second.

This is what I see:

The purple rectangles are fine.
The red rectangles indicate that there is not a definition for
ol li li that has indentation.
The green rectangle indicates that there is likely an ul instead of a ol under the "Update Stored Account" heading.

For me, it would be a very simple job to fix the HTML code.

What I wonder about is whether that technical writer even viewed their code in a browser prior to publishing it or routing it to someone else to publish it. In either scenario, the HTML code is wrong.

Well, first of all, the HTML code of that page is absolutely hideous! No one should be using [b][i]Title[/i][/b] instead of a h (heading style). If you look really close, you'll notice that instead of putting the "heading" in a p (paragraph) tag, the author used a br (break) tag to achieve the desired formatting. It's very ugly.

I learned HTML on my own by reading various websites and investigation of cool-looking websites. When I was trying to learn all about WinHelp files, first, I would seek out WinHelp files that I could download, and second, I would use the Help Workshop .exe file and decompile the WinHelp file and then look at how to incorporate what the Technical Writer did originally. I applied that same type of logic to when I was tasked with writing the help text in HTML pages for a system called "EBPP" which may or may not even exist. I had to figure out what to do on my own and, to do that, I downloaded many HTML pages with really cool visuals that I wanted to incorporate. I took that ugly source code and dumped it into Dreamweaver, then cleaned up the code. Of course I think my cleaned up web page is much better than the original.

Working from Home

When I read this article - Want to Work from Home and Improve Your Mental Health? Apple, Dell, and Walt Disney Are Now Hiring for These Remote Jobs Marcel Schwantes/May 24, 2018 - I read this text with a smirk.

Additionally, studies show that working remotely will save you between $4,668 to $5,688 per year.

Earlier this month, I reported on a FlexJobs study that showed how working remotely will save you money -- enough for that kitchen remodeling project or a couple vacations to a white sandy beach in the Caribbean.

How much? About $4,668 to $5,688 per year. For the average commuter, that includes around $686 saved per year in gas, and $767 saved per year in car maintenance.

I am a commuter, but certainly atypical. I drive no more than 6 minutes to arrive at work. I assure you that I will not spend $686 in gas so there's no way I can save $686 in gas. I also don't know where the figure for $767 saved in car maintenance comes from. I drive a 2007 Ford F-150 back and forth to work. I get an oil change every 3000ish miles, each with a cost of ~$30. I think I've gotten the oil changed twice in 2018 so I spent ~$60.

Sigh.

Just so it's documented, here's what I did today. I left the house at 5:50 AM, stopped at Hy-Vee Gas to get a Mountain Dew Live Wire and a Mountain Dew Pitch Black, chatted with Mark, my former neighbor, at Hy-Vee Gas for a couple of minutes and then parked my truck in the covered parking garage in the furthermost corner. After all of that, I was at my desk before 6 AM.

When I talked to Mark, my former neighbor, at Hy-Vee Gas, I joked about how we (Karen & I) are the final household to remain in the neighborhood out of the 4 households that purchased a (big) snowblower. I joked "We are the final survivor!" (referencing the TV show) to a chuckle from Mark. Ron & Margaret moved first, then Mark & Jenny, and now Jenny & Colleen put their house on the market and received an offer $2500-ish over their asking price the same day - the sign in their yard now says "Accepted Offer" for all to see.

Back to the supposed money being saved by working at home, I just don't see it as being relevant.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Hmmm

With 'Roseanne' betraying its own politics in the finale, there's no reason for Season 2

Morgan Freeman

Axl & The Heck

King Tut's Golden Undies

Who Writes the Docs

Start Out with Some D & M

I still really like Dorothy.

I still really like Metallica.

What would be a better way to start my day?!?

Rummy Victory Today

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Scrape the Sky or Stay in the Jungle

Cirice

Source: Video: James Hetfield Plays Ghost’s “Cirice” May 23rd, 2018 at 9:10am by Axl Rosenberg

Therefore, ... Walk

The above provided the means to reveal a truth about a situation in my career in 2010. One of the reasons I left that employer was due to my frustration with a Project Lead not keeping his word. Seeing Jack's statement, with the powerful second sentence Therefore, ... walk has just opened my eyes to what I was dealing with at the time.

Here's what happened.

I went to a meeting on a Monday to review a user interface. The user interface was to have all user actions on a right-click menu instead of a row of action buttons, as was common in most of the systems that company sold. I remember arguing the point that the user should not have to discover functionality with the Project Lead. The Project Lead countered with the fact that when you look at Windows Explorer, all the available user actions are not buttons. I conceded that but since there were a small number of user actions - let's say 5 - it made sense (to me) to have those buttons in a row on the screen. After much debate, the Project Lead agreed - buttons would be added to the screen.

The following week, I went to another meeting to review a user interface. The Project Lead was the same person, but he was not at the meeting because he was travelling. The screenshot in the specifications document we were reviewing showed a screen very similar to what had been discussed in the meeting the week before and, like the week before, there were no buttons across the bottom. Like the week before, I said, "Shouldn't we have buttons on the screen?" The person running the meeting replied, "No. The Project Lead said we were not going to have buttons on the screen." End of discussion.

From my perspective, we had taken a step backwards from what we had just agreed upon the week before. It'd be like if you negotiate with someone that they are going to accept Terms A, B, and C. The other person agrees to those terms. When you meet the next week to finalize the deal, the person says, "No, I don't accept Terms A, B, and C." It felt like the Project Lead was going back on his word. From a professional perspective, it felt like my opinion didn't matter if the Project Lead wanted to change his mind. From a personal perspective, I had always considered the Project Lead a decent fellow. I had never experienced him going back on his word to me, though I know in other matters in his life outside work, he had done so to others, such as his first wife, but this was really the first time I had been told one thing only to be told that that one thing was invalid the next week.

Looking back at that situation with the knowledge I've gained over the last 8ish years, I know what I would do or say differently to that Project Lead might not have changed his mind, but I would have made my case more strongly with evidence (screenshots of other systems) in an email. At the time, I let it become just another reason on a list of reasons to Therefore, ... walk.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

DP 2

I Couldn't Articulate so CS Did It for Me

Han Solo is my favorite character in the Star Wars franchise so I'm on board with Chris Stuckmann's perspective and what he says at this point - https://youtu.be/RGW_5bqrYIo?t=290 - is what I feel as well. Here's the entire video and there are NO spoilers within!

I will spoil the grade Chris Stuckmann assigns the movie.

Farewell

Saying Goodbye to my Favorite TV Show

From the IT Tech Forum at the U of I

I worked with Guy Falsetti on a project; I played drums when Maggie Jesse played piano at church.

Fancy Numbering with CSS

I REALLY can see how this article - Advanced Autonumbering Techniques with CSS - has a lot of potential in my disaster recovery & knowledge management HTML code that I maintain at work as a technical writer within Dreamweaver and RoboHelp.

Catching Up with FTWD

Because I was on vacation and missed 2 episodes and because the DVR has been used by others in the house when I would have traditionally been able to watch the episodes I missed, I have been relying on articles like this one - which does contain spoilers!! - https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2018/05/20/fear-the-walking-dead-season-4-episode-6-review-just-in-case/#cc2da701dc97 - to keep up with the series.

Not Much of a Music Room

This area is (obviously) dedicated to being able to play music:

I would prefer to not have that tight of a corner for carrying equipment down the stairs
I would prefer to have a separate room (with a door)
I would prefer to not even have a dedicated music area be in the basement

Fortunately, the above picture is within a house I cannot see myself living in:

For my future reference, here is the main page for the listing:

To Be (Re)Born

It was heartbreaking to watch Big Cass tear his ACL 9 months ago (Monday, August 21, 2017) and, as this article states,
Big Cass [was] to Have Surgery for Torn ACL Injury; [and be] Out of WWE Action for 9 Months, which is today.

Editor's Note: Big Cass returned to action and, as of this moment, is involved in a feud with Daniel Bryan.

30 Years Ago, Bird outgunned Wilkins

On this day in history, Bird outgunned Wilkins in one of NBA’s great duels

Monday, May 21, 2018

I Adore This

Stephen Curry's Mom Sonya Told Him to Wash His Mouth with Soap for Profanity Use by Timothy Rapp on May 21, 2018

What I Missed

Don't Agree

http://www.kcrg.com/content/news/13-Reasons-Why-premiere-canceled-after-Texas-shooting-483080931.html

Sorry, but I don't agree with this decision.

The series is FICTION!!

Life and death are serious things, make no mistake. At the same time, I am not sure canceling the red carpet event brought the victims back. Oh wait, it doesn't.

I watched the first season. The description in the article reads like the author is regurgitating what others have said, not firsthand experience.

I think it's incredibly difficult to criticize or label something that I have never seen. I can say that I don't think I will like something but I don't think that I can judge it without seeing it.

I think that if the answer to an a$$hole killing people is to not show TV, that a$$hole has won.

I think that this is a temporary gesture that has no substance. For example, after 9/11 - yes, I know it was a terrorist attack - there were certain songs that were not played on the radio, such as Drowning Pool's "Bodies" because it was deemed to be insensitive to the victims of that attack. Is that song played on the radio now? Yep. Why? Is it no longer insensitive to play it? Have the victims grieved "long enough" so that it can be played without a bunch of people saying it is insensitive? Yep. If the people behind cancelling the premier were really trying to be sensitive, they would remove the series from Netflix. And I liked the first season of the show! If it's insensitive today, then it is tomorrow and until the end of time, right? Right?!?

Up and At It

Today, I was up early, as this site suggested: https://www.thoughtfortoday.org.uk/start-early

Tapping to the Tempo Exhausted Me

Buddy Rich was the MASTER of the drums. In the same breath, yeah, Jojo Mayer is no slouch on the drums. The bass drum syncopation blows me away!

https://youtu.be/ ZA66ad1AYOg - Another 52 Licks, Week 39: Jojo Mayer Triplet Phrase

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Gr8 Collection of RJD

Got a Smile

Come Back of the Year

I Dropped this Show... But this is Great

Were You Wrestling?

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Nice Harmony

Cute?

Black on Blue?

https://youtu.be/BmpKqC9vbu4

Fast

https://www.press-citizen.com/story/sports/high-school/track/2018/05/16/state-track-iowa-city-austin-west-400-meter-hurdle-long-jump/615159002/

TruthBomb

https://youtu.be/FIeTq6eB8j4

Friday, May 18, 2018

KO is Growing on Me

The Acute Angle: Kevin Owens KO doesn’t always win, but can WWE keep a great heel down? By Kenny Herzog May 17, 2018, 3:47pm EDT

S is Right

Splice is right: has Disney stumbled upon the perfect Star Wars formula?

Love this comment:

Milestone Passed

Two weeks ago, on 5/4/2018, I reached 1 year of tracking my steps. Using some basic math, my cell phone tells me I walked 2,771,126 steps in 365 days for an average of 7592.12602739726 steps per day, which is -2407.87397260274 steps per day below 10,000 steps. It's important to mark this milestone as I now have a year's worth of data as a baseline. In the 13 days from May 5th - May 18th, I have walked 176385 steps, which is an average of 13568.07692307692 steps per day. If I were to average 13568 steps per day for 365 days, my total steps from May 5, 2018 - May 4, 2019, would be 4,952,320 steps, an increase of 2,181,194 steps.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Clap on 2+4 Except for Sunshine of Your Love

SMSS

This article describes a new SMSS (Subscription Music-Streaming Service) as YouTube’s long-rumored subscription music-streaming service is now official. I look forward to ignoring it.

The Scrub

I took Alex to The Yacht Club in downtown Iowa City a few years ago to see Gene Hoglan do a drum clinic. The way he comes across in the video below is how he came across when we watched him. What I remember the most about the clinic is how I left it inspired to practice more. I don't believe I will ever play as fast as Gene Hoglan, but from what he said at that clinic and what he says below, I know I don't have to play as fast as him. His message to me is to be the best drummer you can be.

8:03 - Gene's Warmups

15:12 - Ankle Weights

19:55 - Energy Conservation

25:55 - Why Two Rides?

30:18 - Tuning Drums

35:00 - Gene's Ambidexterity

41:00 - Gene's Influences

57:38 - Mental Exercises

1:01:13 - "My Name Is Murder" by Galaktikon

And since Gene Hoglan mentioned Dark Angel, I thought I'd listen to the first album that features him on the drums.

Oh my. In the first 1:30, I hear so many things that are amazing!

Someday Perfect

I can see Alex being perfect for this job ... after he graduates from UNI.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Too Comfortable

I'm playing a Rummy 500 game during a break at work. I'm ahead by 96 going into the 4th round. What happens? I get set and only earn 11 points while the computer (my cell phone) racks up 121 points for a 501 - 487 victory!

I'm certainly not going to get all bent out of shape about a Rummy 500 game, but I did think about something after the game was over. Like many times in life, I thought a victory was guaranteed. I thought I was going to sail through the final round and end up with an outcome but, in reality, it didn't turn out that way.

It's a lesson I have learned many times in my life.

For example, I thought I was going to be the drummer for Avery Riot in April 2016. Instead, I didn't get the gig.

For example, a short 842 days ago, I thought I would be working at Pearson until I retired. Instead, I was laid off 841 days (or 2 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, 6 days) ago.

Sometimes, though, I am the computer.

For example, I thought I would never reach 1000 blog posts. Instead, I have published 6069 posts in 3711 days with an average of posting 1.635408245755861 posts a day. I have 3594 days until 3/28/2028 to post 2.376460767946578 times a day to reach a total of 8541 posts between 3/18/2018 and 3/18/2028, which will bump up that 1.635408245755861 posts a day average to an even 2 posts a day average.

For example, I thought I would never get over my high school sweetheart. Instead, when I saw her at my nephew's Confirmation reception in Cedar Falls, I did not have the urge to go talk to her.

My point is that I cannot take anything as a given. Instead, I must always work hard for what I want.

Sigh....

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-payment-to-cohen-revealed_us_5afc7183e4b0a59b4dffe7f4

Funk Sand

Stream the funkiest cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” ever

Reliving the F of F

And another video:

I Hope I Can Play Drums When I'm 79!

Not to be disrespectful, but I didn't remember that Ginger Baker was still alive. I thought about him when I saw that this tour - The Music of Cream - 50th Anniversary Tour - on Saturday, November 10, 2018 - at the Paramount Theatre - Cedar Rapids, IA. The tour features Ginger Baker's son - Kofi - on drums. Tickets are Tickets: $57.50, $45, $39, $35, with VIP Packages available for $175.

From back in the day:

This is the band from 2/10/2017:

And together, they did this:

Guess I'm going to be listening to Cream the rest of the day...

Introducing the 'not new' band: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

I became of this band - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - because I read a Craigslist ad. The band was listed as an influence by the person posting the ad so I thought I'd check them out. I found this playlist:

As I randomly listened to tunes by the band, I was reminded of this Fearless Records compilation:

Of all the compilations I own, without a doubt, it is my favorite because of this tune by Bigwig (my all-time favorite punk rock band).

Editor's Note: This is the first post to EVER use the Punk Rock label.

Storage! Storage! Rhymes with Porridge (which I've never ate)

While this article is good - How Google’s New Storage Pricing Compares to Microsoft, Apple, and Dropbox - it doesn't address two other storage options: Carbonite and BackBlaze. As you may recall reading elsewhere on this blog, I use BackBlaze. I do have a Google account as well as a Dropbox account.

This Will Be Nice

Send Texts From Your PC With This Upcoming Windows Feature

Makes Me Giggle

It makes me giggle that this article - How to Survive on the Road with all the Tech Comforts of Home - was published while I was on vacation.

I am NOT the Target Audience For This Festival

Since I have never heard of a single one of the bands / acts playing at this festival, it seems not being in Las Vegas this weekend was a good choice.

This is MIJA & FRIENDS:

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

A Gem

History Lesson

Good!

Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth: 'Overkill Has Never Aired Its Dirty Laundry In Public' - Blabbermouth.net

Infinity War feels like the beginning of a goodbye to Captain America

Vox.com: Avengers: Infinity War feels like the beginning of a goodbye to Captain America.

Waterloo's 'eyesore' to come down this month

Awaiting the New Tool Album Requires Patience

Catching Up with Monday Night Raw

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2776070-wwe-raw-results-kevin-owens-vs-the-world-and-top-takeaways

40 Youtube URLs

I just came across this list in a text file...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amVuHBDwkls&playnext=1&list=PLB8A8E69C5E01F284&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFlVi9MHpDc&list=ALGLx1orRGw4XCzUP8c5QRJ1LcQnh100nA

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALBTKoXRg38BBaKz1IfkBjLiJ1DphI1728

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALBTKoXRg38BAUnsqaaGDbk0ltireY4Iet

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALNb4maWNoT6S9JnOwE40Fl_tMfgTft1qK

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALNb4maWNoT6QhTdHBXTIjQKm7dfQz6iOS

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALNb4maWNoT6Q1aHI3sWPRn-4AfjWac_Nl

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALGLx1orRGw4VdOCTzLWDOUCGPAFPrgfrU

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALNb4maWNoT6RYBnRvYhpttmxw41d9j6-v

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALNb4maWNoT6RITWXvMSi5arJMb8psJ4fQ

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALNb4maWNoT6QvBwoyrvoBqw9hU0JucFuG

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ALBTKoXRg38BCXisLe5OfcDZYeDsGLWXb4

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjl84KqBWq95uoKydMv98b-tnZLAFkeOw

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6076138B0B0DFADC

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDC4E3DC3391D28F9

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF64175D7B1D84153

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA763C5206E32FF2F

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL859D79CF39A94867

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAFFAA72395C711F7

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieDt2DGWhqEy7NjqBfy7J5ees5wqsL7v

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJECYDDzQY&playnext=1&list=PL7185930C94B26E72&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei1g3dELnAE&playnext=1&list=PLB9F2A409B344918D&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqbNgEXvZQ&playnext=1&list=PL89E7768907F6719E&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnLBv6RTAGk&playnext=1&list=PL41EA26C2E2759BF7&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjWxWmgllJQ&playnext=1&list=PL0C628670683D7111&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUPnyX6tNU&playnext=1&list=PL4B2B7454EAD95E78&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nws9J9IpRQ&playnext=1&list=PL7765B70B7321C844&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUrS9rQs0b8&playnext=1&list=PL731B30BAD7927A2D&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5PL8NVj7Hk&playnext=1&list=PL5729E1256DEA3BC5&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONaXgjgkdUg&playnext=1&list=PL61029A3FB3E43F94&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UOgPThi88I&list=PLEF0414EA0846A7A0&index=23

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdFRBT2cVbg&&list=PL95E886F1CCEB31B9

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MQ2uLhpKK7IcWjuUTXZKw

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsDy7AoHotAapJm9tOFEWA

http://www.youtube.com/user/mistabone66crush/videos?flow=grid&view=1

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNG22WltKy8J2R9uvvJxAFg

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEAczOmQW1GatBtlzNQX8ZA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moDOSiStXEM&list=ALGLx1orRGw4VhaLKGvyqFYq7IfDU0vgJ6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTByZZ6wTPQ&list=PLxq9hUdgX4y0muJEkV1I9__W8NMg8d3ZL

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4E7CBEEFD43E6D0

Hi Keith,

I haven't had to create a spreadsheet in Confluence, so can't answer that specific question.

But in terms of a bit of advice based on a couple years of experience maintaining content on a Confluence site with thousands of pages of content:

   1. If you have a single hierarchical arrangement in which you wish to
   present the topics you create, just organise them in the order you wish in
   the page tree, and you're good to go! If you wish to re-use a single topic
   in multiple different locations in the tree, a separate folder of
   topics-for-inclusion + the Include Page macro to include a shared topic in
   a particular page in the tree seems to do the trick quite nicely. It's not
   quite the same as a full-on authoring system with re-usable content blocks,
   but you can fake it acceptably using that technique.

   2. ** Consider your strategy for search early **. Search is one of the
   weak points of using Confluence as a documentation presentation platform.
   You can mitigate this by using naming conventions for topics that include
   terms users can put in searches, using labels, and even putting information
   in different spaces associated with different types of information since
   search can easily specify the space to search. Because clicking on a search
   result does not advance the displayed page to the location of the search
   string on the page (or highlight the search string on the page) when it is
   opened, we learned quickly that users prefer smaller topics if they plan to
   locate content using search more often than using a TOC or the page
   hierarchy -- because there's less of a document for them to page around
   looking for the content they require.

   3. ** Consider your strategy for versioning early **. You can do this by
   hand, using separate spaces for different versions, so that users can
   search for docs for different versions of a product by specifying the space
   associated with the desired product version -- this allows pages to have
   the same title across versions. Advantage: You can easily clone the space's
   content to a new space for a new version of the docs. Or you can do this by
   hand, with all documentation in the same space -- which requires you to put
   the version at the end of each title so that multiple versions of a
   document can exist in the same space. Advantage: It pleases an admin who
   sees a separate space for each version to be an excessive use of Confluence
   spaces, at the cost of making it a bit of a nuisance to create a new doc
   set for a new version of the product, for any pages that are not
   automatically generated an uploaded with a version-unique title. (No more
   will be said about that.) Or you can try out Scroll Versions and see if it
   meets your requirements.

   4. If you use Scroll Versions to manage across versions (it's not bad,
   depending on what you want to do, but it's not glitch-free either), beware
   that at least as of a year ago -- and probably still today -- you cannot
   post pages using the REST API if you want those pages to be managed by
   Scroll Versions. We require this for some of our automated documentation
   production -- many of our collection TOCs and individual reference pages
   are generated using local table-driven tools and XSLs that create and post
   Confluence-internal-schema-compliant XML -- so Scroll Versions was out.

   5. Plug-ins are your friend. As Sharon Metzger pointed out, they are
   variable in quality, and some are very much worth the money.

   6. Beware moving and copying pages with embedded images that were first
   added by cut and paste. It seems to be better to explicitly insert images
   file-by-file if you ever plan to move pages around later. (This may only be
   an issue across spaces or may be an issue across permission boundaries.
   Once we determined explicit inserts fixed it, we just proceeded with that
   as process without investigating further.)

   7. Know that the Confluence Server editor is glitchy, but usually not
   fatally so. Confluence Cloud may have similar issues but I haven't put the
   hours into it that I've put into Server. If you are in the editor 6-8+
   hours a day and your topics tend to be on the longer, multi-page side,
   remember this: Control-Z will rescue you from all manner of scary ills!
   Occasionally -- 5-10 times a week for me -- you might be copying and
   pasting around a document, or attempting to apply a heading style, or doing
   something else other than simply typing in the editor, and find that your
   whole document suddenly renders in a particular style, the entire body of
   your document disappears, a cell in your table now contains what used to be
   the entire next row of the table, etc. When this happens, do not panic,
   just undo. Although Confluence sometimes gets the "do" part wrong, it
   RARELY gets the "undo" part wrong.

   8. If you want to buy a third-party theme setup plug-in, beware that
   they can interact poorly with other third-party plug-ins and Confluence
   itself. A theming package my employer uses causes me to constantly get
   "Cannot save page" messages from intermediate auto-saves during editing or
   for final updates -- even though Confluence does seem to save the page.
   Atlassian and the theme plug-in vendor are playing the "No, it's them!"
   game at each other; it's been an issue for most of a year.

   9. Sharepoint tends toward the over-designed end of things. Confluence
   tends toward the under-designed end. Neither are built to be full-featured
   content management systems, just easy-to-use web-publishing systems for the
   masses. The more you use Confluence, the more you will wish it can do, that
   it can't do, and the more you will understand that when they bolted a
   WYSIWYG editor on top of their product's existing non-WYSIWYG wiki editor,
   the end result works like a WYSIWYG editor bolted on after the fact. It is
   a relatively simplistic tool whose power derives from the ability to create
   plug-ins to do things that it, itself, cannot do. Welcome to the club.

   10. If you have a need to export content to Word docs, the Word export
   plug-in seems to produce acceptable output. It's not as well-formatted as a
   document created from scratch in Word would be, but it's OK.

Kind regards,

Helen.

Marketing Crap

Upon returning to work after a 10 day journey to New York City, I began the laborious task of weeding through my emails. This one made me chuckle:

To read the "marketing crap" for yourself and generate your own opinion, go here: https://clickhelp.co/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-user-manual/

To read the referenced page, go here: https://clickhelp.co/software-documentation-tool/user-manual/context-help.html

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