As the week went on, I didn’t feel like I learned much, then again, it was a short work week.

• We finally went to Thai Ginger Bistro, a new restaurant in town that had numerous delays in opening even before the pandemic, and finally opened in the last few weeks. I heard about their Facebook page, but realized they have no Web site of their own. Under their full control. With things like online ordering. I would have hoped with the lack of control people have on social media platforms, not to mention people leaving them, that businesses still solely rely on Facebook for their presence online. Fortunately their food is delicious and I will be back.
• Have you ever taken a screenshot of something and posted it online, and used basic editing features to mask sensitive information? If so, or have thought of this, watch this great video from my college Andrew on the blog for his service Proceed.app, where he describes the proper and most effective way to obscure sensitive information for anything you post online, or in his app for documenting processes.
• French’s makes a Dijon mustard that is delicious, and rivals any true authentic French (without the apostrophe S) mustard. Thanks for the tip from John C. Dvorak who mentioned it on his news analysis podcast (of all places) The No Agenda Show.
• Piers Fawkes shared an email with items in the same vein as this post, and one of them was on “mi casa, your casa”, a social art exhibition where house “frames” have hammocks in them, and can these days be positioned six feet or more apart. Though nothing new, it fits well in today’s world.
• I worked for Larry Moore back in the dot-com days, and I still remember the conversation I had with him and others after the 2000 election on how to technology can be used to securely and efficiently eliminate the issues in voting then, and today. Larry went on to work with firms in this space, and is now on the advocacy side. Listen to this podcast interview with him and learn about tech in voting, even if you think it’s the furthest from what we need now.
• I don’t talk nearly about Nextcloud, the self-hosted private cloud platform, as much as I should. They just announced the features for the next version of the Nextcloud iPhone app, and I am looking forward to seeing it when the next version of iOS comes out. Clearly I need to share more so that you can understand my excitement over this.
• When is the last time you checked the links on your Web site? Try Dead Link Checker probably one of the best tools I have found out there to do so.
• Debbie Harry turned 75 this week. I found this out along with this video of her singing the Blondie classic Call Me with The Muppets. Happy Birthday to this rock diva!
• I finally turned in the Rice Bowl to my church. For those unfamiliar, a Rice Bowl is a way to raise funds for Catholic Relief Services over Lent. As Easter came and went without going to church, I held onto it, placing whatever loose change I had in there. It came to $28.51. So I cashed it in with one of those Coinstar machines, took the amount as a Starbucks gift card so I wouldn’t lose any money from it, then sent a check to the church for the full amount.

Happy Independence Day!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Timing is everything, and the timing of rainfall this week seemed to be perfect for not disrupting my schedule, among other things I observed, saw, learned.

• When I opened the Amazon app on my iPhone earlier in the week, it asked me if I wanted to (and I forget the actual term) integrate Amazon Smile into the app. If you go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com, a small portion of your purchases will go to the charity of your choice, which in my case is my kiddos’ school. As Smile has been around for years, it’s nice to see this finally available in the app.
• This quote from fellow New Englander Robert Frost rang true to me, "A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone."
• I watched a couple of documentaries this past week, the first being End of an Era - Radio Shack. Technically it was a documentary, with footage of closed stores and somebody narrating over it, stitched together with classic Radio Shack commercials, which made it worthy of the 10 minutes I spent watching it.
• The other documentary was All Things Must Pass, chronicling the rise and demise of the Tower Records chain. I was a late-comer to Tower, only shopping them in the 90’s when I moved to the Boston area. This was a rather detailed history, including the founder and various staff and customers including Elton John and Dave Grohl. It was directed by Colin Hanks, son of Tom, and if you are nostalgic for the good old days of music I highly recommend this entertaining film.
• Not a day goes by when I see someone post on LinkedIn on the topic of “failing fast” in business. I could write a whole post on this, and maybe I should, but the bottom line is that not everyone knows what this means. Trust me on this.
• HBO Max, a new “network” from HBO, is available for free to AT&T mobile customers, among other services. However, the app is not yet available for the Amazon Fire TV as the 2 corporate behemoths are debating who makes what. In the meantime, I found a way to “sideload” the HBO Max app onto your Fire TV.
• In the latest edition of The Dispatch newsletter there was a mention of “2020,” a new song by Ben Folds, appropriate for being at the almost halfway point in the year where he talks about having multiple years inside of this one. It’s an interesting song and as they say on Triple J, “language warning!”
• In the wrap-up discussion of the study group I was in for Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the topic of hobbies came up. One of the 3 of us, Alan, suggested that my hobby may be blogging, as I enjoy it, and do it for fun and not for profit. I am still digesting this.
• I rented a U-Haul to move some stuff to storage for someone, and low and behold there was a lock attached to the back of the truck. For all of the years I have rented trucks for various moved I always had to buy a new lock because 1) I needed to lock the truck and 2) I never could find the last lock I bought. Well done, U-Haul.

Hey, Jurasick!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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The more some things change the more they stay the same, but I divagate.

• Surveys from companies are starting to jam my email inbox again. Or is it that they didn't go away but are arriving now that I am shopping more? In any case, there is little incentive about filling out a 5-minute survey on how my kids order from Noodles was.
• The 16th annual Riot fest festival concert to be held in Chicago this September has been “postponed” to next year. If you bought tickets and keep them or buy tickets before mid-July, you get to go to an extra fourth night of the amazing weekend. I am still thinking about this one.
• Speaking of canceled things, I was supposed to have been in Boston this past week for the ProgressNEXT conference for the software I use at work. In addition to several days of intense learning and networking, I would have been within a short walk to the Harpoon Brewery and Legal Test Kitchen, and the Red Sox were to have been in town hosting the Yankees. Damn.
• There is something called the Awesome Foundation where people form groups in a city, raise or donate money, and give it regularly to people who apply for it. I learned about the one in Chicago from John Morrison from his photo blog (my term, not his). If I had money that would be something great to start in Appleton.
• Network Solutions calls themselves "The World's First Domain Provider" and yes, they are the successor to the first one. I saw this when I had to log into a domain name account with them this week. Interestingly, their user interface hasn’t changed in at least the last 15 years, which is not good nostalgia. I am sticking with Name.com for their great service and great Web experience. And yes, that's link is a referral link.
• Though I have heard of Heckrodt Wetland Reserve before, I had never been to it nor realized it was so close to me. It is a 70+ acre beautiful area that doesn’t seem like it is so close to me. The above photo was taken there along one of the walking trails.
• Today marks one year since my aunt, whom we called Auntie, passed away. Where I never really liked the term “passed away” it fits – I was there, and she did pass away. Where I haven’t really written about her here, I am always thinking about her and my Mom. I remember a quote from a wise person, also an Italian, who said when we lose someone you don’t get over it, rather it just gets different. She told me that years ago after my Mom died, now almost 2 decades ago a few weeks ago. She was right.

Sorry to end this on a somber note. Usually I end with a quote, shout-out or some insider comment, but it’s what’s been in mind this week. So I will close this –I hope you are well, and if not, I hope you find peace.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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By the time I got my college first radio show, the band The Clash were just breaking up. That fact had no bearing on their half-dozen albums being mainstays on many shows under the alternative/progressive/modern rock category throughout my 4 years at the station.

It was the memories of their songs and the iconic cover of their third album, London Calling, that drew my attention to the book Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of the Clash by Randal Doane. I saw it at a book vendor at last year’s Riot Fest in Chicago, and I had to buy it. Despite the role music has in my life, I admit I haven’t read a lot of books or stories on bands or musicians, and thus this purchase.

The book isn’t as much a story of just the band as it is the radio stations and disc jockeys in New York City that introduced their music to their audiences. It takes place in the late 1970’s, where clubs like CBGB were hosting rock and punk bands from around the city as well as the world, and The Clash was part of that culture.

As this book took me down a road that I was only vaguely familiar with, I have a few takeaways from this journey.

The role of DJs in breaking bands – The style of radio show on college radio in those days, where the DJs picked the artists and songs to play, was about finalized as the only place to hear music in this fashion. Commercial radio stations were increasingly owned by conglomerates that owned many stations across the country and even in the same market. What was played on the air was centrally controlled, and automation in the DJ booth made this easier.

Stealing All Transmissions talks of the DJs and stations that played bands like The Clash, Blondie and The Ramones and their influence to their rise in popularity. DJs got to know the musicians and vice versa back then, and the story tells the tale of the ending of this influencing.

The decline of the DJ – For as much as you would listen to a radio station for the music, the DJ was also integral to your listening pleasure. This did not end in the 80’s but has continued to wane even to the present day. The previously mentioned automation made their disappearance easier as well. Radio personalities today are known more for talk shows rather than music shows.

The romanticism of radio and music – There was something special about playing music in the 70’s and 80’s. A simple needle dragged around a vinyl platter presenting the talent and nuances of the musicians in the home and DJ studio; there was a warmth to it that has no comparison to digital music today. Listening to music in the car comes a little closer to the experience from those days, but is quickly drowned out when the kids want me to change it from 1st Wave on SiriusXM to Radio Disney.

Though I grew up several hundred miles from New York City and wasn’t listening to the featured radio stations in the book back in the day, I can relate to their stories from my own experiences with both college and commercial radio. Stealing All Transmissions, where the title comes from The Clash song This is Radio Clash, is a great story where Doane uses quotes from the band, other musicians and the DJs of that time to tell a tale of the overall feeling from those days. If you love The Clash (and I hope you do!) or love or are curious about the “glory” days of radio, I recommend this book to you. As for my copy, it is going to a friend who was the general manager of my college radio station the year before I was, and a man who has many great stories about bands as well.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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