Calendars

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I’ve been creating some short screencasts to help a friend transition from Windows to a new Chromebook. This includes some iOS apps. As I get ready to show him the Google Calendar app, I’m reminded of the calendar I saw on his refrigerator. It’s the “family calendar” where everyone keeps up with who’s where.

Screen Shot 2016-08-06 at 10.08.47 AM

This got me thinking about the seven columns/four rows layout of calendars. I always took this for granted until I started using the “schedule” view in Google’s iOS app (see GIF below). This linear, flowing presentation makes perfect sense on a smart phone where you can endlessly scroll (or search). And the 7-by-4 layout of paper calendars don’t work as well on smaller screen.

GIF

The 7-by-4 layout makes sense if your calendar is printed on a sheet of paper (as it has been for hundreds of years). And if we’re going to share the calendar, we have to be looking at the same piece of paper. Not so in a cloud-connect, smart phone world.

In front of my laptop, I still opt for the month view in Google Calendar but I’ve gotten used to the schedule view on my phone. Will the 7-by-4 view be with us always or will it become a quaint anachronism for those who never knew anything but smart phones?

Roger Ailes

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“He may have wanted to enhance conservatism, but decimated it instead, along with political discourse itself. At 76, he will not have to live much longer with the consequences of his actions, but many of us will. He has made his mark on America, and left the rest of us a lot worse off for it.”

— W. Richard Benash (The Dartmouth)

Above-ground pools suck

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dumpster-poolBut a lot more expensive. And harder to install. And remove. I’ve never had one of these pools but I see lots that have been abandoned. They seem like a good idea, for that first summer. But it soon becomes obvious that you can’t really swim in one of these things so you just stand around in chest-deep water, scooping out dead bugs and leaves.

So here’s my idea for a business (that someone has already thought of): a temporary above-ground pool. Bring it in on a flatbed trailer; fill her up; install the support gear and BOOM, you got a pool. In September you call the truck back, drain the pool and take it away. You have your yard back. (“Hey, mom! Can we put the trampoline back up?”)

Dumpster Pools