"Does your computer know what time it is?" might seem like a crazy question if your system sprang forward at Daylight Saving Time (as mine did) and synchronizes with Internet time servers like clockwork (as mine did until recently). However, recipients of "error synchronizing time" messages will know from whence I blog.
Seeking help at Microsoft.com and my computers' help functions wasted valuable time. So I sought help elsewhere.
I found what I needed at the NIST Internet Time Service (provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Time and Frequency Division). They're from the government and they're here to help. Other Internet time servers abound, but I'm satisfied with NIST, which successfully synchronized my system, manages the Official U.S. time-clock and is always right on time.
[Microsoft, in contrast, needs to change the Internet time servers pre-programmed into Windows XP machines: time.windows.com and time.nist.gov. Neither works any longer, at least as of this posting.]
Synchronizing Windows XP-SP2 with the NIST Internet time servers requires first updating the Windows Date and Time Properties thusly:
Ensure your computer is connected to the Internet.
Right-click the time icon in the bottom right corner of the Windows XP-SP2 task bar and select Adjust Date/Time.
Visit the Date and Time tab and ensure the date is correct.
Visit the Internet Time tab and confirm that the "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" box is checked.
Punch in Enter one or more NIST Internet Time Servers, e.g., time-a.nist.gov and time-b.nist.gov. To do so, copy the time server name of your choice (e.g., time-a.nist.gov), click to highlight the name of the current server listed in the box labelled "Server:", paste the name of the selected server, and click the "Apply" button on the bottom right row of the Date and Properties box.
Then ensure that each server entered synchronizes with your computer. To do so, select, in turn, each of the servers you just entered from the Server drop-down menu in the Internet Time Tab and then click Update Now. The NIST servers should yield messages like this: "The time has successfully synchronized with [Internet time server name] on [date] at [time]."
I am no fan ofAmerican Idol. Never could get into the show, into most of what surly SimonCowell says, or into any big-stakes enterprises with outcomes based on bogus elections.
All that he had going for him was not enough to beat stronger singers, however. Last night's results signed, sealed and delivered Sanjaya's fate as an American Idol also-ran.
Saying "sayonara" to Sanjaya pleased Simon, who had consistently panned the teenager's performance as "utterly horrendous" and grinned when Malakar sank into the bottom three. Simon (and online gamblers) knew the pattern: down and out.
As of tonight's show, it's strike three for Miss New York and, Tiffany told VH1 Host LaLa (who had issues of her own), she's taking herself out of the game of looking for love on TV.
Finally, after three humiliating TV seasons, New York may have learned a thing or two. ONE: Even a show's star does not call all the shots, especially in the final episodes. In the I Love New York reunion show, LaLa [who the directors remote-controlled like a puppet on a string (read: wireless earbud)] had more say-so than New York, who couldn't even get Pumkin (Brooke Thompson, who was promotingCharm School, which followed) kicked off the set or keep Tango (who had no further obligations to VH1, that I know of) on it. But I'm skipping ahead.)
An opening announcement by LaLa set the tone of tonight's reunion. Jersey (Bryant), Pootie (Lamonty Council) and Rico (Sandro Padrone) couldn't be there, she explained, because one was in jail, one was on crutches and one had issues. She left it to viewers to guess who was whom.
More trash and flash followed. From Miss New York's strip club-worthy entrance, to footage and discussion of 12 Pack (David Amerman)and Heat's (Jason Rosell) Party Boys Tour, the video clip of Heat's mother and yaya dissing New York, Romance (Ricky Perillo)'s bizarre exchange with New York and introduction of his new (canine) love, and the fighting words and postures exchanged among Tango (Patrick Hunter), White Boy (Joshua Gallander) and Chance (Kamal Givens) the I Love New York reunion showed the depths to which the show's producers and participants were willing to dredge to elevate exposure and ratings.
The most shocking segment was Tango's public disengagement from New York. When he first saw her (after months of separation since the show's finale, when he proposed), he greeted the woman he'd kneeled before on international TV by slobbing her down and then cuddling up with her onstage.
However, their love-seat soon became a hot-seat and Tango "lost his sexy" when VH1 ran footage showing Miss New York (and her mother) dissing him harder than his rivals had. "I fell in love with Tiffany," Tango sneered, after backing away from her, "but I got New York." [...] "It's over."
(View the videos of what aired... VH1.com Blog....and what didn't. The clips that didn't make the cut show sides of Tiffany and Michelle that make their on air behavior seem demure.)
Tango also raged, as he stormed off set, that he would permit no one to disrespect his mother (as Tiffany and Sister Patterson had).
Horrified and crushed, New York told Chance (who she was was built like a python), "I should have [f*ck!n] chose [sic] you!"
Tango's response: he told his former rival, "You're good to go, pimp" (meaning New York was back on the market), and shook the smiling Chance's hand.
Tiffany, obviously shocked and stung by Tango's behavior, belittled the "two inch" anatomy of the man who, she'd cooed earlier, was the perfect fit. It will be her shriveling retort, not Tango's god-awfully bad behavior, that will make it hard - if impossible - for the match made in VH1 ratings heaven to ever reunite.
And maybe that's a good thing. Tango's fuse seems longer than Chance's, but once lit, it makes him equally volatile.
Ironically, just before Tango's tantrum, Miss New York said she'd chosen him because he (unlike Chance) could help her become more mature. Apparently, Tiffany had missed or ignored the reality that Tango's willingness to tolerate, and even engage in, Miss New York's drama bode poorly for a mature, healthy or long-term relationship.
Unfortunately, Tango got that memo while onstage (or before). His less than discreet or gallant reaction to it, proved my point publicly and painfully.
The unexpected drama rivalled that of the two Flavor of Love finales combined. So did Miss New York's humiliation.
Apparently, it wasn't enough that she sat in the wrong seat after her racy entrance, that she was tricked into kissing Mr. Boston's (Lee Marks') twin brother (Ben) and commenting that he's still the best kisser, or that she had to share a stage with Pumkin, who not only spit on her but is now hot and heavy with Mr. Boston.
Nope. Tango trampled all over whatever shreds of dignity New York might have had tucked deep down in her newly expanded decolletage. And to add insult to ratings-generating injury, VH1 aired it and backstage happenings for the world to see, gloat and blog about.
Runner-up Chance offered New York sympathetic words of support. (He could personally identify with being strung along and then dumped on TV.) LaLa invited him onstage with her and the crying New York to save the day, but true to the boundaries he erected after being eliminated, Chance confined himself to his couch and his gestures to urging New York not to cry.
Putting time on a couch wouldn't be a bad idea for multiple participants in tonight's show. No doubt they could negotiate a group discount with Pootie's therapist or the shrinks who counsel Survivors who, torches snuffed, take the walk of shame.
POST-SHOW ROUNDUP: Today's Lisa Tolliver Show guest was composer Patricia Burgess (who "daylights" with The Field), and accompanied me to PodCampNYC. Also scheduled - but unable to join us - was Bruce from Long Island, who founded Podcaster Who's Who and the Long Island Podcast Network. Today's "hearty" emergency preparedness & safety tip addresses cardiac health.
A MESSAGE ON BEHALF OF OUR SPONSOR: The 23rd Honoree in the United States Postal Service “Literary Arts” series is poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. For baseball and history lovers, the USPS Commemorative Stamps Program also offers a Baseball Sluggers series, which features Roy ("Campy") Campanella, "Hammerin' " Hank Greenberg, switch-hitter Mickey Mantle, and high-kicker Mel Ott.
NEXT SHOW(S) HEADS-UP: Join me again on April 25 via New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM, www.wvox.com or the call-in line at (01) 914.636.0110. From 11:30-noon, I'll be hosting SCORE Radio: Counselors to America's Small Business (here's my SCORE profile) and from high noon-12:30, I'll be hosting the Lisa Tolliver Show.
IN THE INTERIM: if you're listening, I'm listening. Talk with me!
STOP the madness! Remember the friend I posted about earlier, who purchased two regstration stickers and received two temporary passes to park at Nassau Community College (NCC)? Now he - and, others, I surmise - are in a sticky wicket.
Sure, my friend could cancel the charge on his credit card. But if he did, the bank says, he'd have to cancel the card, too. That would require submitting a new card number to all the vendors he pays by recurring credit card charges in order to simplify life. Too complicated, says my friend.
What's really revving up the concern here is the fact that an expired temporary parking pass makes one's car vulnerable to getting another ticket: that's the (type of) ticket the missing parking pass is supposed to prevent. Certainly, a credit card receipt and associated temporary parking pass should be all one would need to successfully fight (such a summons in) City Hall. But to have to invest the time, effort and fuel (at practically $3 per gallon!) do so would be enough to drive a body nuts!
What's a podcast? Is Podcamp NYC some new-fangled sleepover? Why did a critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano, who specializes in trouser roles, and the founder of 15SecondPitch exchange elevator pitches on air? And what in the world do any of those concepts have to do with Women's History Month?
Those who heard today's show know the answers. Those who didn't: shame on you! Don't do it again.
You wouldn't want to miss guests like those who joined me today: the co-organizers of PodcampNYC 2007 - LAURA ALLEN of 15SecondPitch, and JOHN C. HAVENS, About.com Guide to Podcasting, professional actor and writer, - APRIL LYNN JAMES, Ph.D., mezzo soprano and Executive Director of Heroic Mezzo, and BOB MARRONE, host of Good Morning, Westchester! (on WVOX-AM and WVIP-FM) and Connecticut School of Broadcasting instructor.
Bob's facial expressions alone would make for an entertaining podcast. But adding April's singing would class up the joint. She treated listeners to a taste of her vocal magic by singing happy birthday to Bob on air.
You can meet today's guests and me at PodcampNYC on April 6 and 7. If that's not enough to bring you out, read here how you can learn all about podcasting and meet heavy-hitter pod people at the Podcamp NYC networking events and seminars.
In the meantime, set your alarm to join me on air when I host the following April broadcasts, which can be heard on New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM, www.wvox.com, and (01) 914.636.0110 (the listener call-in and voy-ear line):
April 11 - noon - 12:30 PM, ET - Lisa Tolliver Show
April 25 - 11:30 AM - noon, ET - SCORE Radio: Counselors to America's Small Business
April 25 - noon - 12:30 PM, ET - Lisa Tolliver Show
What's a podcast? Is Podcamp NYC some new-fangled sleepover? Why did a critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano, who specializes in trouser roles, and the founder of 15SecondPitch exchange elevator pitches on air? And what in the world do any of those concepts have to do with Women's History Month?
Those who heard today's show know the answers. Those who didn't: shame on you! Don't do it again.
You wouldn't want to miss guests like those who joined me today: the co-organizers of PodcampNYC 2007 - LAURA ALLEN of 15SecondPitch, and JOHN C. HAVENS, About.com Guide to Podcasting, professional actor and writer, - APRIL LYNN JAMES, Ph.D., mezzo soprano and Executive Director of Heroic Mezzo, and BOB MARRONE, host of Good Morning, Westchester! (on WVOX-AM and WVIP-FM) and Connecticut School of Broadcasting instructor.
Bob's facial expressions alone would make for an entertaining podcast. But adding April's singing would class up the joint. She treated listeners to a taste of her vocal magic by singing happy birthday to Bob on air.
You can meet today's guests and me at PodcampNYC on April 6 and 7. If that's not enough to bring you out, read here how you can learn all about podcasting and meet heavy-hitter pod people at the Podcamp NYC networking events and seminars.
In the meantime, set your alarm to join me on air when I host the following April broadcasts, which can be heard on New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM, www.wvox.com, and (01) 914.636.0110 (the listener call-in and voy-ear line):
April 11 - noon - 12:30 PM, ET - Lisa Tolliver Show
April 25 - 11:30 AM - noon, ET - SCORE Radio: Counselors to America's Small Business
April 25 - noon - 12:30 PM, ET - Lisa Tolliver Show
Psych! That'll be the day. [NOTE TO MY SURVIVORS: Bury or cremate my mic with my remains.]
In case you haven't been punk'd, prank'd or fooled yet by anyone else, then you might be unaware that today is April 1, when people in the U.S.A. and many European countries celebrate "April Fool's Day" or "All Fools' Day" ("Aprilsnar" in Danish).
April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.
All Fools' Day traditions can vary across cultures and locales. Yahoo! Buzz Log lists the most popular pranks, jokes and April Fool's-related searches in "Jokes and Pranks, Oh My!" (by Erik Gunther). In Europe, as Wikipedia further explains:
The April 1 tradition in France includes poisson d'avril (literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. This is also widespread in other nations, such as Italy (where the term pesce d'aprile (literally "April's fish") is also used to refer to any jokes done during the day).
Moreover,
In some countries, including theUnited Kingdom, Canada (except Quebec), Australia and New Zealand, the April 1 tradition requires jokes to be played before midday: if somebody pulls an April Fools' Trick after midday, then the person pulling the trick is actually considered the fool. *
I don't think media organizations read that memo. Some broadcasters and publishers have have executed such fantastic April Fool's Day hoaxes (at various times of day) that wary citizens have become suspicious of even real news on the first day of the fourth month. Some outstanding examples are accessible at Wikipedia's compilation of well-known April Fool's Day hoaxes and at MuseumOfHoaxes.com. (I've pulled off some doozies too, but will save them for my book.)
"Foolishness" of similar sorts can occur on other days in other nations. For example:
In Spanish-speaking countries, similar pranks are practiced on December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents. This custom also exists in certain areas of Belgium, including the province of Antwerp. The Flemish tradition is for children to lock out their parents or teachers, only letting them in if they promise to bring treats the same evening or the next day.*
In Iran, people play jokes on each other on April 3, the 13th day of the Persian calendar new year (Norouz). This day is called "Sizdah bedar" (Outdoor thirteen). It is believed that people should go out on this date in order to escape the bad luck of number13.*
In Denmark the 1st of May is known as "Maj-kat", meaning quite simply "May-cat", and is identical to April Fools' day, though Danes also celebrate April Fools' day ("aprilsnar").*
Some Jewish communities have a traditional event called a "Purim spiel" (a.k.a. "Purimshpil"), which is similar in many ways to April Fools' Day. *
Purim spiel seems similar, to me, to Mardi Gras or Halloween.
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conducting "Syncopated Clock
).
