http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203513604577142481239801336.html?mod=djemTECH_t

Barnes & Noble Inc. is the latest old-school company to discover how costly it can be to try to reinvent itself for a digital future.
The nation's largest bookstore chain warned Thursday it would lose twice as much money this fiscal year as it previously expected, and said it is weighing splitting off its growing Nook digital-book business from its aging bookstores.


Over the past 15 years, rapid technological change has transformed the company from a dominant retailing force that left smaller booksellers quaking in fear to a struggling giant grasping for a plan to ensure its long-term relevance to the publishing industry.
Barnes & Noble realized early on that e-books could appeal to consumers, but allowed Amazon.com Inc. to get an early leg up. Now it is locked in a battle with Amazon and another deep-pocketed rival, Apple Inc., to sell both electronic books and the high-tech devices consumers use to read them.


Digital technology continues to roil all manner of once-dominant companies. Former giants such as Blockbuster Inc., Circuit City and Barnes & Noble's main book-chain rival, Borders Group Inc., have struggled mightily—and in some cases, disappeared altogether—in the face of digital competitors including Netflix Inc. and Amazon. Wednesday's news that Eastman Kodak Co. was contemplating seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection underscored the severity of the technology threat.
Barnes & Noble's stock fell 17% on Thursday. The company now may be at its most critical juncture since Leonard Riggio, its chairman and largest shareholder, opened his first store in New York's Greenwich Village in 1965.


As recently as the 1990s, Barnes & Noble was known as a carnivorous competitor with the power to wipe out independent bookstores with its steeply discounted books and sprawling stores where customers could sip coffee and read in plush chairs. In New York City, the emergence of a Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side was partly responsible for the mid-1990s closing of the beloved neighborhood bookseller Shakespeare & Company—the kind of narrative arc that cropped up in the movie "You've Got Mail."
Ironically, Barnes & Noble had been one of the first to recognize the potential of digital books. In 1998, it invested in NuvoMedia Inc., maker of the Rocket eBook reader, and the bookseller actively supported digital-book sales. But in 2003, it exited the still-nascent business, saying there wasn't any profit in it.


It wasn't until 2009 that Barnes & Noble re-entered the business, introducing its Nook e-reader. By then, Amazon had been selling its Kindle device for about two years, and was offering best sellers for $9.99, a fraction of what hardcover best sellers are priced at.
Apple introduced its iPad tablet in January 2010. Amazon responded with its competing Kindle Fire tablet this past September, and in November, Barnes & Noble introduced its Nook Tablet.


E-book sales have skyrocketed, jumping to $863 million in 2010, from $62 million in 2008, according to BookStats, a joint-research venture between the Book Industry Study Group and the Association of American Publishers. One publisher predicted Thursday that e-books could account for as much as 40% of total revenue by the end of the year.
Although Barnes & Noble was late to the game, its devices have won critical praise, and publishers estimate today that it controls as much as 27% of the digital-books market. "We saw more growth with e-books with Barnes & Noble this Christmas than anybody else," said the publisher.


But those sales have come at an enormous cost. Developing, manufacturing and promoting e-readers and tablets requires heavy upfront spending. Barnes & Noble's spending on advertising has more than tripled since 2009, according to Kantar Media, an ad-tracking unit of WPP PLC. To promote the Nook, the retailer returned to national TV advertising in 2010, after a 14-year hiatus, buying spots on popular programs such as "American Idol."
The heavy Nook investment has squeezed Barnes & Noble's bottom line. Largely as a result, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—a critical measure of earnings—fell to $163 million in the fiscal year ending April 30, 2011, from $281 million in fiscal 2010.


When Barnes & Noble's stock weakened, the company came under pressure from activist investor Ronald Burkle. In response, Mr. Riggio, who maintains control with a stake of about 30%, put the company up for sale in August 2010. Last May, Liberty Media Corp. made a bid to buy the business. Mr. Riggio appeared to support the bid, but Liberty Media eventually opted to invest $204 million for a 16.6% stake, receiving two board seats.
This holiday season has offered a ray of hope. Barnes & Noble said device sales had risen 70% for the nine-week period ending Dec. 31, compared with the year-ago period. It said the Nook business is likely to notch $1.5 billion in sales in the current fiscal year, compared with $880 million a year earlier. That business includes the Nook devices, digital-book sales, accessories, magazine and newspaper sales, app sales and sales of warranties.
On Thursday, Barnes & Noble increased its projected loss per share for the current fiscal year to between $1.10 and $1.40, from the 30 cents to 70 cents it reaffirmed one month ago.


Barnes & Noble blamed an unexpected shortfall of sales of the Nook Simple Touch e-reader on a Christmas where consumers embraced color digital devices, including the Nook Tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire. The e-reader sales shortfall is significant because of its ripple effect on projected sales of related products, including e-books and accessories.
"We over-anticipated the demand for the holiday season," said William Lynch, the company's chief executive officer.
Mr. Lynch said Barnes & Noble has plenty of capital to continue financing the Nook expansion, including a $1 billion credit line.


But in a comment at an investor conference on Wednesday, Liberty Media Chief Executive Greg Maffei hinted that Barnes & Noble might need help to continue building the business. Competing with Apple and Amazon, he said, was a "big-boy game." He said Barnes & Noble may find "partners to help fund that game, meaning the public or strategic partners."
Barnes & Noble said in a statement on Thursday it was "in discussions with strategic partners including publishers, retailers and technology companies in international markets." It said that could lead to expanding the Nook business overseas.


One possibility is that Barnes & Noble could sell a minority stake in the Nook business in a public offering. The two businesses would likely have different managements and different boards. Under such a scenario, Barnes & Noble would continue to have close ties to its Nook devices. Another possibility is selling the Nook business outright.


Edward Latessa, a portfolio manager for Aria Partner, a Boston-based investment firm that owns a stake in Barnes & Noble, suggested one logical buyer could be Google Inc., whose e-book store has had only a minimal impact so far. "The Nook business alone could be worth $1.5 billion," said Mr. Latessa. The Nook runs on Google's Android software. Google declined to comment.
Another potential partner is Microsoft Corp., people familiar with the situation said. Microsoft declined to comment.


The idea for splitting off the Nook business may partly reflect the influence of Liberty Media, whose chairman, John Malone, and chief executive, Mr. Maffei, are experienced at devising complex financial structures to highlight the value of businesses. Mr. Maffei and another Liberty executive, Mark Carleton, are on Barnes & Noble's board.


"This is classic Malone," noted Maxim Group analyst John Tinker.
The idea came up during the company's long-running strategic-review process, which began in the summer of 2010, according to people familiar with the situation. Barnes & Noble executives and the board discussed how the company could increase shareholder value and improve its stock price, these people said, and separating the Nook business was one suggestion.


The idea was also embraced by Liberty, said another person familiar with the situation.
Barnes & Noble said the decision to explore the potential sale of the Nook business was a board-level decision that had the full support of the company.
Investors have shown they are in favor of companies overhauling their structures to focus their business divisions, applauding moves by McGraw-Hill Cos., Kraft Foods and other companies that separated businesses last year.
Barnes & Noble investors may not have the patience to fund Nook growth here and abroad, said Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps. "It's going to require sustained investment."
—Gina Chon and Suzanne Vranica contributed 
to this article.

Android Tablets - Fierce Competition In 2011?

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/why-android-tablets-failed-a-postmortem/10011?tag=nl.e101

Why Android tablets failed: A postmortem

By Jason Hiner

January 5, 2012, 10:56 AM PST

Takeaway: Android tablets were expected to give the Apple iPad fierce competition in 2011. It never happened. Here’s why Android tablets flopped.

As I gear up for CES 2012 next week, I can’t help but think back to CES 2011 where the big story was all about Android tablets. I was in the front row at the Verizon keynote when Google made a surprise appearance and did a demo of its newly-unveiled tablet software, Android 3.0 “Honeycomb.” I shot a quick video of that demo, sprinted back to my hotel room, uploaded it to the web, and it quickly went viral.

The tech world was all abuzz about Android tablets. People were yapping about the gorgeous eye candy in Google’s Honeycomb demo. Motorola, ASUS, and lots of other gadget companies quickly made big, flashy CES announcements about their forthcoming Android tablets. The Apple iPad had just surprised nearly everyone by selling 15 million tablets in 2010, but the general consensus at the time was that Android was firing off a clear message: “Dear Apple: We’re coming after the iPad.”

On smartphones, Android had just had a huge 2010 of its own. It went from virtually zero market share in January to a third of U.S. smartphone sales by the end of the year, leapfrogging the iPhone in the process. With so many of tech’s biggest hardware makers lining up behind Android tablets heading into 2011, the expectation was that Android tablets would likely leapfrog the iPad by the end of the year. At the very worst, it looked like Android tablets would pull even with the iPad and split the tablet market. Even as late as June 2011, some prominent tech commentators were still predicting that Android tablets would gobble up a huge chunk of the tablet market by the end of 2011.

It never happened.

Depending on who you believe and what exactly you count (tablets sold to retailers vs. tablets sold to customers, and whether you count Android offshoots like the Amazon Kindle Fire), Android was running on somewhere between 15% to 30% of all tablets sold in 2011. That’s respectable, right? Disappointing, but respectable. However, that’s not the whole story. It gets worse.

If we look at actually tablet usage, the numbers get really ugly for Android. Recent reports (like this one from ComScore) that track web traffic from tablets show that the iPad accounts for 95% of tablet traffic in the U.S. and 88% globally. That means that either Android tablet sales to paying customers are much lower than previously reported or the people who buy Android tablets aren’t using them very much, or a combination of the two. Whatever the details are, it’s an ugly scenario that means Android tablets have almost no traction in the market.

So, why did Android tablets flop in 2011? There are four main reasons. Let’s count them down, and then talk about what 2012 looks like.

4. The 16×9 problem

Google tried to get innovative with the form factor of Android tablets by giving them a 16×9 aspect ratio instead of copying the iPad’s 4×3 form factor. It sounded good. It was different. After all, 16×9 is associated with HD and 4×3 is associated with SD. The problem is that when you put a 16×9 tablet in your hands, it feels awkward. Google made landscape the default orientation so it feels like you’re holding a laptop screen that’s missing a keyboard, instead of holding a book or a magazine or a padfolio like it feels when you have a 10-inch 4×3 device like the iPad. When you turn a 16×9 tablet to portrait mode, the screen feels oddly squished. And now, it’s going to be difficult for Google to fix the problem. The 16×9 landscape orientation is still the default in Android 4.0 and there are a ton of existing Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer that are locked into the 16×9 orientation, so even if Google did a software update, it wouldn’t help.

3. The enterprise doesn’t trust Android

One of the ways that Android tablets were going to move a lot of units in 2011 was large orders of 1,000s of tablets to traditional enterprises like hospitals, manufacturers, and schools. Last March Iwrote about Samsung gearing up to sell a lot of Android tablets to the enterprise by setting up sales programs and preparing its sales force to handle big tablet orders. Samsung reps enthusiastically said they would contact me when they had big customers willing to talk about their tablet rollouts. I never heard from them. By mid-2011 that didn’t surprise me because the IT leaders I spoke with were spooked about Android malware. The fact that users could click on browser links and accidentally sideload apps that could siphon data out of Android devices was not something IT pros wanted to deal with. As a result, surveys like the one from enterprise vendor Good Technology showed that 96% of tablet activations in the enterprise were iPads.

2. The lack of tablet apps

Despite the 16×9 problem (and Honeycomb’s initial software glitches that Google eventually ironed out), the Android tablet platform itself isn’t all bad. I like running widgets and mini-apps side-by-side, for example. That makes Android tablets feel more like a traditional multi-tasking computer. The built-in Gmail, Google Books, and web browser apps in Honeycomb are really slick — I especially like the thumb controls in the browser. The problem is that there just isn’t enough of this stuff. Google has not created enough of its own apps and third party software developers have hit the snooze button on Android tablet apps. Where’s the Google Analytics app or its Google+ app or its Google Finance app or its Picnik photo editing app? Instead of building its own native Android tablet apps and firing up software makers, Google seems intent on focusing app developers on building HTML5 apps that work well across tablets, smartphones, and computers. That’s an important and admirable goal, but dedicated apps can still be extremely useful for taking advantage of a platform’s strengths. And the bottom line is that users like the simplicity and focus of having an app that they can tap and enter a dedicated environment for a particular service. Google doesn’t get that, doesn’t like it, and hasn’t pushed for it on Android tablets. The result is that Android tablets just don’t feel like they’re useful for doing much besides surfing the web.

1. The price

When Apple first announced the iPad, I had honestly started tuning out by end of the event (there’s only so much of that “magical” and “revolutionary” nonsense you can stomach). I was ready to write an article excoriating the iPad as a badly-overpriced toddler toy when Steve Jobs announced that the price of the iPad would start at $499 (I’d expected the price tag to be $800-$1000). I immediately bolted straight up in my seat and my eyes popped open and Apple had my attention again. To this day, I believe that the iPad’s greatest marketing strategy and the No. 1 factor in its success has been its price tag. Conversely, when Google and Motorola announced that the first big Android tablet — the Motorola Xoom — would cost $800, my immediate reaction was to shake my head and say, “DOA.” At the time, other tech analysts tried to argue that what you got for the price with the Xoom compared very favorably to the highest-priced iPad. It was a logical argument but that’s not how most of today’s tech buyers think, and the proof is that virtually no one bought the Xoom. Eventually, other tablet makers rolled out some nice Android tablets for $400-$500 by the middle of 2011 — again, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and ASUS Eee Pad Transformer are both very attractive — but to the masses, that price tag was apparently still too much for tablets whose primary function is surfing the web.

What now?

Even Google’s own numbers don’t paint a pretty picture for Android tablets, and the release of Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” is unlikely to help the situation much in 2012. ICS is’t about fixing the tablet problem. It’s about unifying the Android experience between smartphones and tablets. My ZDNet colleague Jason Perlow has been testing Ice Cream Sandwich on the Motorola Xoom and has concluded that it won’t fix any of these fundamental flaws with Android tablets.

Last month Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said that Google will “market a tablet of the highest quality” in the first half of 2012. It’s also been rumored recently that Google is working on a low-cost 7-inch tablet to battle the Amazon Kindle Fire, which runs a bastardized version of Android 2.3 and quickly grabbed the No. 2 spot in the tablet market at the end of 2011.

However, until Google deals with the four issues we’ve talked about here, it’s unlikely that it will change the fate of Android tablets. At the very least, Google will have to fix No. 1 and No. 2, and that might be enough to overcome No. 3 and No. 4.

Also read

• Why Ice Cream Sandwich won’t be able to save Android tablets
• Latest Android figures paint dismal tablet picture
• Samsung has big plans to sell Android tablets to the enterprise

"The Land That Made Me, Me"... Days Long Gone

http://chasblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/04/bob-hope-days-are-long-gone.html

Thank you Chas for this wonderful collection of images from the 1950's and 1960's, truly days long gone.

Report: Apple to unveil next iPad in January > Defending Turf vs. Amazon Fire > 8 megapixels camera

I am so ready for this ! 

Another week, another fresh set of rumors about Apple's next rendition of the iPad.

The latest wave stems from Digitimes once again, which claims Apple is expected to unveil two versions of its next iPad in late January.

Perhaps the most important detail is Digitimes has backed off an earlier report that Apple was planning to launch a "mini" iPad with a 7.85-inch screen.

According to the latest Digitimes details, it appears Apple will release two new iPad models and price the iPad 2 to compete with Amazon's red-hot Kindle Fire tablet.

The new iPads will reportedly include 9.7-inch screens with retina displays, dual LED light bars to bolster brightness and quad-core A6 processors. What sets these tablets apart: their cameras. One has a 5-megapixel camera while the other is 8 megapixels.

Rumors of the next iPad arrive as sales of Amazon's Kindle Fire continue to flourish. The online retailer says the $199 tablet remains the top-selling item on its site after 13 weeks. Also, Dave Limp, the vice president for Amazon's Kindle division, said earlier this month the Fire "is the most successful product we've ever launched."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/12/report-apple-to-unveil-next-ipad-in-january/1

World's Most Talkative Woman - Computer Has Hard Time Keeping Up !

http://mrtube.netne.net/mr-tube-worlds-most-talkative-women-guinness-world-records.html

World's Thinnest Woman - no audio, just music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RCPeFD7pYuE#!

What is Depersonalization disorder?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation

U.S.P.S. Pricing

if item is over 13 oz, goes to priority Mail status, $4.75 is starting point for Priority Mail.


http://postcalc.usps.gov/MailServices.aspx?m=1&p=2&o=6&dz=07458&oz=33912&pob=0&MailingDate=12/17/2011&MailingTime=8:00%20AM

Bending the Notes with E.C.

Eric Clapton demonstrates how he bends the notes:


http://www.great-guitar-players.com/Eric_Clapton.html


http://www.last.fm/group/Guitar+Blues/forum/50888/_/313381


http://guitarsecrets.com/hammer_on.htm


http://www.openculture.com/2011/05/a_young_eric_clapton_demonstrates_the_elements_of_his_sound.html

Back to the 60's

Here are all those groovy terms that hippies use and what they mean, starting with the letter A, and click on link for entire list !


http://www.hippy.com/glossary-c.htm


1-A: Status determined by draft board that you are currently fit  and available to serve in the military.
1-O: See Conscientious Objector.
4-F: Exemption from military service due to mental or physical disability.
 

2001 - A Space Odyssey:  Written by Arthur C Clarke.  The movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick.  It was touted as "the ultimate trip" in this poster.  And many people took those words to heart as this was indeed a great trip.  Man's evolution is directed to the stars by strange black obelisks. Hal, the irrepressible silicon concierge is up to his tricks in interplanetary hijinks. The special effects are now classics.

Acapulco Gold: Legendary Mexican marijuana from the 60s.  Today it wouldn't be considered so special, but back then it was great!
Acid: see LSD.
Acid Tests: Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters did the first Acid Tests.  These were events were everyone dropped acid together for an extraordinary group experience.  Tom Wolfe wrote The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about the experiences of Ken Kesey the Merry Pranksters.
Activist: A person who participates in protest actions.  Anyone involved in a cause, usually political.
Afterglow: A state of peace that can follow after a psychedelic experience when your mind is still detached from worldly concerns.  "He's bathing in the afterglow of his last LSD trip".
Agnew, Spiro T.: Vice President during Nixon's reign, he antagonized almost everyone but expecially liberals with his verbal rantings.  He claimed the antiwar movement was the work of "an effete corps of impudent snobs." He survived a bribery scandal but was convicted of income tax evasion he was forced to resign much to everyone's delight.  Recently declassifed FBI files show Agnew did receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks as Govenor and Vice President.
Allman Brothers: Southern rock Band popular in the early 70s, played the Fillmore.  Midnight Rider, Melissa, Ramblin' Man some of their hits.
Altamont: Controversial, ill fated rock concert headlined by the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane at Altamont Speedway on Dec.24,  1969.  Hells Angels, acting as security, had their hands full as people kept rushing the stage. One man pulled a gun, and the Angels killed him.  The film "Gimme Shelter" documenting the concert was used in evidence to clear the Angels.
Antiwar Movement: The organized resistance by students, veterans and other activists against the draft and Vietnam War in the 1960s and early '70s. Rallies, marches, speeches, teach-ins, sit-ins, slogans, banners, and songs were some of the non-violent tactics used to get the message out.
Asanas: Sanskrit word. A series of body postures that stretch and tone muscles, increase endurance, and improve flexibility. Along with breathing and meditation they make up the practice of Hatha Yoga.
Ashram: A monastery where monks practice yoga.
Astral Plane: A dimension of existence beyond the physical world. A place where disembodied spirits dwell. Many attempt to contact the astral plane through meditation or by using psychic energy.
Babe: Affecti

Best NYC Pizza

Colin Hagendorf, 28, of Brooklyn, reviewing his final slice at Davinci Pizza in Lower Manhattan.

 

 

Manhattan is home to some of the country's oldest and most celebrated pizzerias, but the great metropolis also holds many mediocre slices. Colin Hagendorf has tasted it all.
Mr. Hagendorf, a 28-year-old Brooklyn resident, may know New York-style pizza more exhaustively than any other living soul. During a 2½-year quest, he has sampled nearly every pie sold by the slice in Manhattan. The feat—involving 362 slice joints—is unmatched by any modern-day enthusiast, according to local pizza experts.

"It's become a chore," he admitted recently, over a lunchtime slice. Folding the pizza lengthwise, he watched glumly as the end sagged, unsupported by a doughy crust. A proper slice, Mr. Hagendorf avows, should crease when folded and droop only at the very tip, "just like Johnny Cash's nose."

"This pizza is cotton," he sighed. Still, he was pleasantly surprised at the taste and scribbled notes for a review to be posted on his blog, where he chronicles his pizza forays and rates slices on an eight-slice scale. 

With his girlfriend, Christina Sparhawk, Mr. Hagendorf ate his final slice last week in Lower Manhattan. 

Mr. Hagendorf began his project with the aim of trying every slice in New York City's five boroughs. But with more than 1,600 pizzerias in town, according to a health-inspection database, he soon realized he had bitten off more than he could chew. So he narrowed his focus to Manhattan and set simple rules: only order plain cheese pizza; only eat at places selling individual slices; and no going back after canvassing an area to catch newly opened establishments.

Mr. Hagendorf began in August 2009 at Grandpa's Place near 211th Street and Broadway—in Manhattan's northernmost neighborhood—and worked his way down to the island's southern tip. He excluded from consideration national chains and cafeterias that don't make their own pizzas.
The results are chronicled on Mr. Hagendorf's website, Slice Harvester, as well as in printed 'zines he assembles at copy shops and sells for $3 apiece—only slightly more than the price of the average cheese slice. The reviews are deeply personal and occasionally blue, written in the confessional manner of a pizza-obsessed Lenny Bruce. Each pizzeria gets a grade, from zero to an exalted eight.

He bestowed the only perfect score on Pizza Suprema, a slice joint steps away from Penn Station. The place may be the only establishment to proudly hang one of Mr. Hagendorf's reviews, which can be profanity-laced, and he is treated like royalty when he visits.

Mr. Hagendorf says he hasn't gained weight as a result of the project and continues to eat pizza even when not conducting reviews.

"It comes out looking beautiful, grease shimmering above the cheese," he says of the slice at Suprema. "You need that grease!" 

For Mr. Hagendorf, the best slices display balance above all, cheese and sauce used in moderation upon a solid yet supple crust. He disdains many of the new wave of recession-friendly dollar-per-slice outlets. He also scorns purveyors of Texas-size slices.

"A good dollar slice is like finding the Ark of the Covenant," Mr. Hagendorf says. "The fixation on giant stuff is part of the current horrible state of American capitalism."
Mr. Hagendorf is a waiter at a Brooklyn diner and describes himself as "activist-y punk." He spent years working for tips as a puppeteer in Union Square. Before devoting himself to pizza, "my project was: I want to work as little as possible," he says. 

His slice-eating endeavor was born after a cross-country trip in 2009, when he grew outraged at a New York-style pizza served in Colorado Springs, Colo. After hearing him berate that, friends jokingly suggested Mr. Hagendorf market himself as a consultant for out-of-town pizzerias. He set out to survey the city's slice joints.

"I'm not sure what made me actually do this idea instead of just talk about it, which is what I've done with my ideas for years," he says.

He has learned that even in the home of the New York slice, inferior pizzas outnumber truly delectable pies. But mediocrity may be the price for having so many pizzerias.

There are 1,676 New York City restaurants classified as primarily selling pizza, as well an additional 425 categorized under "pizza/Italian," according to a food-inspection database maintained by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Manhattan is home to 494 pizzerias and 97 other restaurants listed under the joint category. A spokeswoman for the agency cautioned that classifications are assigned by inspectors and are therefore inexact. 

The 2010 Yellow Pages phone book lists 412 distinct Manhattan eateries under its "pizzeria" section, according to a hand count by Michael Berman, a Brooklyn-based photographer and pizza-focused food writer. Mr. Berman, 44, recently combed through past phone books stored on microfilm at the New York Public Library as a way to track the growth of the city's pizza industry.

In 1958, the phone book listing for pizzerias showed 117 in the five boroughs—and just 10 in Manhattan, Mr. Berman found. By 1970, the total number of pizzerias in New York had surged to 861. 

Scott Wiener, 30, who runs New York pizza tours, credits the commercial gas oven with giving birth to the modern slice as a unit of sale. The dial-controlled technology and lower temperature made the oven easier to manage and allowed slices to be reheated without risk of burning bits of cheese on the cooking surface, which fouls the taste.

"It's that oven that made pizza by the slice a big deal," Mr. Wiener says. "It makes more people into pizza makers. You didn't have to be an experienced baker."
With his final slice consumed last week in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Hagendorf has eaten slices at 362 pizzerias. Of those, he's ranked 75 as good or great. 

He hasn't gained weight as a result of the exercise, and continues to eat pizza even when not conducting reviews. He now plans to go through his archive and produce a best-of retrospective. "There's a huge body of work," he says.
New York pizza aficionados watched with interest as Mr. Hagendorf approached the finish line.

"A lot of the time I kick myself for not doing it first," says Adam Kuban, who started chronicling New York pizza in 2003 on his website, Slice. "But at the same time I'm glad I didn't have to endure it." 

American and British Toilet Slang

from


http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_toilet_slang

Defecation

• A sewer snake to release
• Abort a baby
• Anaconda action
• Arsefire
• Back one out
• Backing the big brown motorhome out of the garage
• Baiting the trap
• Becoming the porcelain assassin
• Blasting a dookie
• Blinking
• Blow one out - Also flatulence
• Blow the load
• BM
• Boo-Boo
• Boom Boom
• Bomb the porcelain sea
• Building a log cabin
• Burn a mule
• Caca
• Carpet Bombing Afghanistan
• Chocolate time!
• Create a custom extrusion
• Cripping a crapple
• Crowning
• Curling one off
• Cutting rope
• Deceiver of Farts
• De-corking the borking
• Deucing
• Dirty squirties
• Doing brown
• Doing some spring cleaning
• Dominating
• Doo-Doo
• Doodey
• Download a brownload
• Dr. Benjamin Fartlin
• Drop a double deuce
• Dropping a dook
• Dropping a bomb
• Dropping a deuce
• Dropping a hoopsnake
• Dropping a jolst
• Dropping a load
• Dropping a loaf
• Dropping a Purtle
• Dropping a Washburn
• Dropping The Dangle
• Dropping anchor
• Dropping bass ("base" as in the opposite of treble. Not the fish.)
• Dropping logs
• Dropping some friends off at the pool
• Dropping the Browns off at the Super Bowl
• Dropping the Cosbies
• Dropping the kids off at the pool
• Dropping the Mexican Boll Weevil
• Dropping the weights
• Dropping wax
• Faxing a shit to the toilet machine
• Feeding the seagulls (politer version of "Feeding the shitehawks")
• Feeding the toilet
• Fertilising the plants (refers to defecating outdoors and on the ground, such as while camping)
• Filing some papers
• Filling the bowl
• Fire away
• Freeing me chocolate hostages
• Giving birth
• Giving birth to a chocolate baby boy
• Giving birth to a healthy brown baby
• Giving birth to the black eel
• Giving birth to the Spineless Brownfish
• Giving birth to an African
• Going Boom Boom
• Going poop
• Going to meet Jim Davidson
• Going to number two
• Going to have a talk with Mr.Hanky (South Park [2] Refrence)
• Going to the restitorial
• Growing a tail
• Hanging a rat
• Hungry Hungry Hippos
• Inagurate Barack Obama to the White House
• Inserting a SEAL Team
• Kurt Bevacqua
• Launching torpedoes
• Laying a brick
• Laying a brownie
• Laying a cable
• Laying a Hank
• Laying a turd
• Laying some wolf bait
• Lengthening the spine
• Letting loose
• Letting the toilet know who's boss
• Letting the dogs out
• Lift tail (used commonly among members of the furry fandom)
• Logging
• Logging into the toilet and making a huge download
• Logging out
• Load your pants
• Loafin'
• Lose some weight (Also used in urination)
• Making a banoogie (referring to an unusually large defecation, often clogging the toilet)
• Making a tail
• Making an appointment with Dr. John
• Making gravy
• Making logs (or a log)
• Making waves
• Makin' bears
• Monopoly!
• Montezuma's Revenge (traveller’s diarrhoea)
• Number two (a portable toilet company advertises itself as "Number One in Number Two"; a Midwest plumbing company proclaims, "We're Number One in a Number Two Business.")
• Pebble-dashing the porcelain
• Pinching (off) a loaf
• Pinching a yam
• Pinch-hitting for Kurt Bevacqua (a reference to the old brown uniforms worn in the 1970's and 1980's by the San Diego Padres.)
• Poo-Poo
• Poopy Doo
• Poppin a gooky
• Producing some output
• Pump a clump of dump out of my rump
• Pull a few cones (Think Mr Whippy soft serve ice cream, and the cones)
• Punching a growler
• Punishing the porcelain
• Punishing the toilet
• Put food in the dog's water
• Releasing a depth charge
• Releasing a Dungbomb (from Harry Potter)
• Releasing the chocolate hostages
• Releasing the hostages
• Releasing the Kraken
• Releasing the hounds
• Ride a pony and trap
• Ring of fire
• Sacrificing to the Toilet/Porcelain god
• Saturday morning special
• Scatter bombing
• Shitting bricks (Houses or apartments as substitutes for higher quantity.)
• Showering the room with roses
• Shtounga
• Slopping gruel in Oliver's bowl
• Speaking with the arabs (When whoever is listening asks "what" the toiletee replies "Mustapha Crap!")
• Spray-painting the porcelain
• Squirt juice
• Stalling a brown sedan
• Streaming Nixie (naval expression referring to an anti-submarine device towed behind a ship by a long, thick, possibly brown cable)
• Studying one's Process Design notes (refers to Environmental Engineering Process Design, a course taught to civil and environmental engineering undergraduates and that deals with, among other topics, the design of wastewater treatment facilities)
• Taking a brew
• Taking a crap (see also Mr. Thomas Crapper)
• Taking a dump
• Taking a Nixon (used by Kinky Friedman in his detective novels)
• Taking a poo
• Taking a Shatner (as in Captain Kirk; would also accept "dropping" or "doing" a Shatner)
• Taking a shit (a coarse expression, not a euphemism)
• Taking a slam
• Taking a Tarzan (crapping in the woods/forest)
• Taking the Browns to the Superbowl
• Taking the Cosby kids to the pool
• Taking the mains offline and ejecting the warp coil
• Taking the morning curl
• Throwing up backwards
• Tuesday Afternoons
• Turtle time (see Turtle Action)
• Uni(I've got to take an uni)
• Unlikely Traveler (Defecation, usually on vacation, when you defacate in your pants away from a toilet)
• Unload
• Unloading a batch of cigars
• UH-OH! (Peter Griffin again; is incontinent at awkward moments)
• Visiting Boston
• vote for president.
• wrestling a leprecon
• Take a Critical Ambient to the Lab
• Upgrading my Thetan Level

Zooey -New Girl - Clip # 1

How to Deploy/Administer/Run Parallels on Multiple Mac Computers

http://download.parallels.com/desktop/v6/docs/en/Mass_Deployment_of_Parallels_Desktop.pdf

Superior Autobiographical Memory and Memory Bumps

Recently we noticed a lot of traffic to our informative page about autobiographical memory. We quickly realized this was a consequence a recent episode of 60 Minutes–a fascinating program called  “Endless Memory”. The episode profiles six people, including Taxi actress Marilu Henner, who can remember literally everything about their lives. Their talent has been labeled “superior autobiographical memory” and is now being studied in depth by neuroscientists. I highly recommend you watch the episode online.



Why does this happen? Why are there just a tiny number of people in the world who have the remarkable ability of remembering, in great detail, every day of their lives? The researchers aren’t exactly sure, but none of the six people appear to be impaired in any other way. MRI scans of the six people are currently being analyzed. While results are preliminary, they have found that some brain regions in these folks are huge compared to you or me. Both the temporal lobe (a key area for memory) and the caudate nucleus (an area implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder and habit formation) appear to be involved. The question is: are these brain regions large because these folks have trained their brain to do this? Or can they do this because they have abnormally large brain regions? More research will need to be done before we can unravel this mystery completely.

Even if you don’t have superior autobiographical memory, you may be interested to know that most of us have a “memory bump”–a certain era of our lives about which we can remember much more than other time periods. To find out what your memory bump is and learn more about this phenomenon, you can take this quick test. 

http://www.positscience.com/test-your-brain/memory/find-your-memory-bump
You can also read more in-depth about autobiographical memory, or learn about five different types of memory, including autobiographical memory.

By Karen Merzenich on December 21, 2010  
 

Spotify.com - Free Online Music - For Now

Monday, Aug. 08, 2011

Spotify, the Swedish-born cult hero of music-streaming services, wants to play you a love song. After years of legal wrangling, the popular European site finally made its U.S. debut on July 14, entering a massive market that is already saturated with music offerings — one of the many reasons most newcomers flop. (Anyone remember Lala.com?
But what makes Spotify more appealing than iTunes is that you can listen to its vast song collection for free. And what makes it more appealing than Pandora is that you can easily share playlists with your friends. Basically, Spotify is what would happen if Facebook had a baby with Napster, except that it's completely legal and comes in the form of a desktop application that can follow you anywhere, streaming music even when you're offline. If this all sounds too good to be true — free access to a library of 15 million tracks! — you guessed correctly that the world's largest music-subscription service comes with a catch.
 
(See five cool websites for new Spotify users.)

For now, users can get unlimited streaming at no charge, but Spotify is expected to drive people to paid subscriptions by eventually capping the hours of free listening per month as well as the number of free plays per song. The site made this shift in April in Europe, where a 10th of its 10 million users now have premium accounts, a sign that Spotify could be one of the first online music services to really understand the digital economy.

Premium versions offer users better sound quality on mobile devices as well as unlimited streaming. For $4.99 per month, customers can eliminate aggravating ads. For $9.99 per month, a price comparable to those of similar services like Rhapsody and MOG, the company's top-notch mobile app will stream playlists even when the listener is offline. (See how to get a Spotify invite.)

Spotify is arriving Stateside armed with deals with each of the four major music labels — Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner — a critical vote of confidence from an industry that has had a tortured history with online music sites. Spotify is also barreling into the U.S. market just as competition is intensifying between the likes of Pandora, MOG and Rdio (pronounced Ar-dee-o) and new cloud-based services from Amazon, Google and Apple. Meanwhile, AOL recently announced it will relaunch its radio player in partnership with streaming service Slacker, and Myspace is getting a makeover by entertainment utility player Justin Timberlake, who in June bought a stake in the once dominant social-networking site.

But J.T.'s considerable star power may not be enough to outshine Spotify's tie-in deal with Facebook, which is letting its 750 million members see which of their friends are using the music-streaming service. That arrangement — plus the hordes of A-listers, including Britney Spears, Ashton Kutcher and Trent Reznor, who have been gushing about Spotify on Twitter — might just provide the edge it needs to avoid becoming a one-hit wonder.

See TIME's special All-TIME 100 Albums.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2084577,00.html

Thanks Linda for this article!