Live Q&A: ownCloud contributors create Nextcloud

Watched Live Q&A: ownCloud contributors create Nextcloud from YouTube
Ask questions in a live Nextcloud Q&A Hangout with Frank Karlitschek and Jos Poortvliet, moderated by Bryan Lunduke at 18:00 PM Berlin/Amsterdam/Paris time, 10:00 AM Pacific time on June 2nd, 2016.
Nextcloud Q&A Hangout with Frank Karlitschek and Jos Poortvliet, moderated by Bryan Lunduke at 18:00 PM Berlin/Amsterdam/Paris time, 10:00 AM Pacific time on June 2nd, 2016.

Authagraph by Hajime Narukawa [ 鳴川 肇 ] | TEDxSeeds 2011

Watched The AuthaGraph Map from TEDxSeeds 2011 | YouTube
An endless world map: Viewing the world through "Authagraph"

"Mr. Narukawa is the inventor of Authagraph, a world map designed to fit the world into a rectangle while almost perfectly maintaining the continents' relative size. It is mathematically impossible to precisely project the earth's sphere onto a rectangle. As such, previous methods would succeed in either taking on a rectangular shape or being true to the size ratio and shape of each continent, but never in both. Authagraph is groundbreaking in that it takes on both of those qualities, making it applicable to various themes such as sea routes, geology, meteorology and world history in ways never thought possible.
Instead of abstracting the globe into a cylinder, then a plane, as the more common Mercator projection map does, the AuthaGraph turns the Earth into a tetrahedron, which then unfolds in any number of ways.  The map can then be tessellated similar to the way that we can traverse the planet–without ever coming to an end.

Rather than having just one focal point—the North Atlantic in Mercator’s case—nearly any place around the Earth can be at the center. The effect also means that the relative sizes of countries and their locations are much more representative than prior maps.

Those who remember the Gall-Peters Projection map featured on The West Wing will see that this is a step better.

For more details, see also Japanese Designers May Have Created the Most Accurate Map of Our World: See the AuthaGraph | Open Culture

Sawyer on the elasticity of the liberal arts education

Watched Sawyer on the elasticity of the liberal arts education from Vimeo
This is "Sawyer on the elasticity of the liberal arts education" by Williams College on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Croissants by Vincent Talleu

Watched Croissants from YouTube
Uploaded on May 12, 2009
How I make croissants.

http://www.brockwell-bake.org.uk
http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread
http://www.vincent.talleu.com

I made this video when I worked in south of France a few years ago. I now work at "The Artisan Bakery" in London, where the croissant we make are even better, but I'm really a bread baker and our bread is the best.
Jeremy Cherfas is right, I think the majority of the secret is the tools. I am quite jealous of that massive dough roller, but I don’t think that a typical little home pasta machine would be quite as easy to use as Jeremy might hope.

My other favorite was the magic croissant cutter. I’ll have to look for one of those the next time I’m at a restaurant supply house. I imagine they’re pretty rare. It reminded me a little bit of the old school hand push lawn mowers.

The quick camera pan down at 5:34 with the CCR musical overlay was a lovely touch, but is a painful reminder of the fact that this type of mass manufacture is overkill for the home chef who may want as many as a dozen at a time (remember, pastries start their inevitable death the minute they’re done cooking). Though I do have to say watching this makes me want to open up a bakery, but which days is that not a thought I have?

The nice part about having this much dough was seeing some of the myriad of creative things one could do other than just croissants. Now, off to find a nice oranais.

Donald Trump | Charlie Rose

Watched Donald Trump Interview Friday 11/06/1992 from Charlie Rose
Rebroadcast — Monday 02/20/2017
Donald Trump talks about his recent "comeback" after flirting with bankruptcy, his support of Mike Tyson after his imprisonment for rape, his divorce from Ivana Trump, and the rumors that he would run for president.

It’s amazing watching this interview from over 23 years ago. Charlie Rose takes it possibly too easy on Trump because of his entertainer status. There’s a lot of hemming and hawing on Trump’s side and he still shows these same verbal tics as he dodges questions in a somewhat charming manner. There’s no adherence to facts, yet everything is “just great”, “the best”, “this”, “that”, and so on.

It’s amazing to see some of the things Rose brings up then are still issues now. Questions about his manner and vanity still linger all these years later. The difference is that he at least acknowledged them to some extent back then.

📺 PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 22, 2017

Watched PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 22, 2017 from PBS NewsHour
Wednesday on the NewsHour, hundreds flee amid flooding in Northern California. Also: A major change on school bathrooms and transgender youth, newspaper editors explain readers' views on the political climate, Syrian refugees who would prefer not to move to the U.S., hope for alien life in a newly discovered solar system and an industrial towns puts its faith in revitalized manufacturing.

Based on the interview of the Mayor of San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo it sounds like Norther California is handling the heavy rains better than I would have expected.

The segment with newspaper editors around the country was alright, but seemed oddly stilted. Several of the interviewees obviously didn’t have a lot of on-camera experience. It wasn’t obvious that some of their thoughts were so much that of their constituencies as they were of themselves based on their answers.

📺 Face the Nation 2/19/17: Priebus, Graham, Nunes

Watched Face the Nation 2/19/17: Priebus, Graham, Nunes from cbsnews.com
After a contentious week for the White House, "Face the Nation" breaks down the problems the Trump administration has faced in its first month. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, and others join the show.

Reince Priebus is far preferable as a White House spokesperson to either Conway or Miller, but he still doesn’t have the ability to listen and push a particular agenda. While I get the message that they’ve done a lot of work, they still need to deal with the political realities of potential scandals in a more even-handed manner. All of the other Republican appearances on today’s show were far more sober about the realities of what seems to be going on. In my mind, the only reason not to admit there’s a problem is that you have no plan for dealing with it or moving forward. It’s the administration’s appearance that they don’t seem to have any kind of overall plan that concerns me most.

It seems like the administration had the 10 word answers down pat during the campaign, but that’s all they had and sadly they don’t seem to have the paragraphs or even the books worth of information and plans to follow up on any of their ideas.

Again, I’ll note that I think it’s a continuing mistake for the Sunday morning shows to allow administration spokespeople to appear remotely via camera than to appear in person.

The best part of the episode, to me, was the re-appearance of Michael Morell, who I don’t think I’ve seen on television since before the inauguration. His depth of knowledge and analysis, even now that he’s on the journalistic side of the game, is just always superb. I don’t think anyone else in the game has the ability to lay out facts in a simple and straightforward manner without a pointed agenda. I’ll note that he even had an aside in the conversation here underlining the agenda portion.

I really like the sober voices of Bob Woodward and Jeffrey Goldberg at the end. It would be nice to see more of them in shows like these.

On a technical production note, I will mention that Face the Nation seems to have a set problem with John at the head of the table and guests on one side. The camera angles (particularly with just two guests on the same side of the table) seem to diminish the roll of the guest seated furthest from John. This doesn’t seem to be a problem with 4 or more guests, but is highlighted when there are only two. Perhaps the production could take a page from Charlie Rose’s blocking around his table with multiple guests? There was also a small chyron issue that leaked into Graham’s segment which identified him incorrectly as Nunes.

📺 PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 17, 2017

Watched PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 17, 2017 from PBS NewsHour

Friday on the NewsHour, President Trump touts his economic plans at a Boeing plant, while the Senate approves Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, to head the EPA. Also: An update on the fate of an Iraqi translator, two Texas cities offer a microcosm of the nation's deep political divide, Mark Shields and David Brooks analyze the week's news and a new film about a controversial love story.

PBS NewsHour’s reporting on the political divide is really interesting. The fact that they’re going into middle America and bringing stories that others aren’t covering is laudable. It helps explain the divide, though I still see a tremendous disconnect between these people’s lives, their desires, their education and how the political theater is playing out with the current administration’s lack of ability and any semblance of logic.

📺 “Armenia Second (Alternative First) | An Introductory Video For Donald Trump” on YouTube

Watched Armenia Second (Alternative First) | An Introductory Video For Donald Trump from YouTube
Here is Armenia's introductory video for Donald J. Trump. Netherland and other European countries might think that they are the best choice for the second greatest country after the US. But we in Armenia think otherwise. ArmComedy is a satiric news show on Armenian television. #everysecondcounts http://www.everysecondcounts.eu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/armcomedy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armcomedy Voice-over: Narek Margaryan

James Bond Henchmen Part 3: Geoffrey Holder | No Small Parts, Episode #11

Watched James Bond Henchmen Part 3: Geoffrey Holder from No Small Parts, Episode #11 | YouTube
Perhaps best known for his role as Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die, Geoffrey Holder had a long and prosperous career in the arts as a dancer, dance choreographer, actor, singer, costume designer, painter, sculptor, and so much more.
Watching the 2014 version of Annie earlier this evening reminded me of Geoffrey Holder and how much I loved his character Punjab in the 1982 version. He had a tremendous body of work which is touched upon in this great short retrospective.

📺 Divided States of America, Part 1 | Frontline

Watched Divided States of America, Part 1 from FRONTLINE | PBS, aired January 17, 2017
FRONTLINE investigates the partisanship of the Obama era, and the polarized America that Donald Trump inherits as president.

Ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration, "Divided States of America" looks back at events during President Barack Obama's years in office that revealed deep divisions in our country. The documentary offers an in-depth view of the partisan gridlock in Washington, the rise of populist anger on both sides of the aisle, and the racial tensions that erupted throughout the country.
What a stunning overview of the last eight years of partisan politics. In particular I had forgotten about a lot of the rancor and racism stemming from the far right when Obama took office. This two part documentary does a terrific job of reminding us where we’ve all been and puts a lot of our current situation into perspective. The first part here was particularly brutal in its coverage. It seems almost too balanced to the point that the subtext of the documentary is that politicians need to find a better way to get along to do more good for their constituents.

PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 7, 2017

Watched PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 7, 2017 from PBS NewsHour
Tuesday on the NewsHour, a federal appeals court takes up President Trump's controversial immigration order. Also: Fact-checking the claim that the press underreports terror attacks, shocking details of a Syrian prison, how Betsy DeVos could reshape education policy, unique challenges for black children with autism and a new take on Timothy McVeigh's motivation for the Oklahoma City bombing.
The segment on autism in combination with the episode of Invisibilia on mental health I heard last night make me think we should drastically change how we treat and deal with mental health in our society.

The worst shame in the segment on autism was that the family felt shame for taking their son out into public.

Nice to see some of our favorite folks from NPR Radio making the rounds on television.

PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 2, 2017

Watched PBS NewsHour full episode Feb. 2, 2017 from PBS NewsHour
Thursday on the NewsHour, President Trump vows to drastically change the way church and state are separated during political campaigns. Also: What we know about a deadly raid by Navy SEALS in Yemen, how the president's aggressive approach affects world leaders, the economic hurdles to replacing Obamacare, a woman's mission to help girls in Liberia and a letter to U.S. presidents who owned slaves.

📺 So What Are We Supposed to Do Now? | The Closer S2 E14

Watched So What Are We Supposed to Do Now? from GQ Videos
The Electoral College has affirmed Donald Trump as our 45th President. Here’s what you can do about it.

📺 Alexander Hamilton’s Plan to Keep Trump From the White House | The Closer S2 E13

Watched Alexander Hamilton’s Plan to Keep Trump From the White House from GQ Videos
The Electoral College was designed to prevent just this sort of emergency.