Month: January 2009

Calculating bi-weekly intervals in FileMaker

Today’s vexing problem in FileMaker was in calculating bi-weekly intervals (as in a payroll period) without using a lookup table. For example, given a payroll period of:

Start End
11 Jan 2009 24 Jan 2009
25 Jan 2009 7 Feb 2009
8 Feb 2009 21 Feb 2009
22 Feb 2009 7 Mar 2009

I wanted to be able to calculate the last and current pay period for any given date. After some digging around FMForums and more trial-and-error on my part, the formulas are:

To find the last pay period:

START = 14 * Div ( givenDate - 14 ; 14 )
END = 14 * Div ( givenDate - 14 ; 14 ) + 13

And to find the current pay period:

START = 14 * Div ( givenDate ) ; 14 )
END = 14 * Div ( givenDate ) ; 14 ) + 13

Center For Visual Music’s “Essential Visual Music: Rare Classics”

I’ve shouted at length here before about Oskar Fischinger, MOCA’s Visual Music exhibition, and the occasional program from the Center For Visual Music. CVM shows are kinda rare and extremely worthy. Well worth the effort to attend.

Here are a couple of highlights from tonight’s “Essential Visual Music: Rare Classics” show at the Hammer.

Muntz TV Commercial, Oskar Fischinger, 1952

Mood Contrasts, Mary Ellen Bute, 1953

Cibernetik 5.3, John Stehura, 1960-1965

So what’s in the envelope that Bush left for Obama?

(An exercise in stream of consciousness…)

via Boston Globe’s The Big Picture

In this handout photo provided by the White House, a folder for U.S. President Barack Obama (the 44th president) is shown, left for him by Former U.S. President George W. Bush on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

envelope_for_44.jpg

  1. Pink slip and registration for Roswell saucer
  2. Treasure map to Masonic gold stash
  3. Keys to Calvin Coolidge’s secret liquor cabinet
  4. Television remote for the Big Board in the War Room

An obligatory ILX thread follows…

Running The Numbers III: 2008 in Music

Albums released in 2008 that I listened to more than once and still have a non-trivial number of songs in my iTunes library as of today. Best way I can think of to describe what I liked last year without resorting to an arbitrary top ten/whatever list.

  1. Alastair Galbraith – Orb
  2. Antietam – Opus Mixtum
  3. Aterciopelados – Rio
  4. Au Revoir Borealis – Dark Enough For Stars
  5. Auburn Lull – Begin Civil Twilight
  6. Avrocar – Against The Dying Of The Light
  7. The B-52’s – Funplex
  8. Barbara Morgenstern – BM
  9. Bardo Pond – Batholith
  10. Barn Owl – From Our Mouths A Perpetual Light
  11. Beangrowers – Not In A Million Lovers
  12. Belong – Colorloss Record
  13. Belong – Same Places
  14. Benoît Pioulard – Temper
  15. Bitcrush – Epilogue In Waves
  16. The Black Angels – Directions To See A Ghost
  17. The Breeders – Mountain Battles
  18. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – My Bloody Underground
  19. Brightblack Morning Light – Motion To Rejoin
  20. The Broken West – Now Or Heaven
  21. Caesars – Strawberry Weed
  22. Calexico – Carried To Dust
  23. Camille – Music Hole
  24. Caramelitus – El Otro Habitat EP
  25. Cat Power – Jukebox
  26. Celer – Discourses Of The Withered
  27. Cloudland Canyon – Lie In Light
  28. Clue To Kalo – Lily Perdida
  29. Crystal Stilts – Alight Of Night
  30. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
  31. David Gilmour – Live In Gdansk
  32. The Declining Winter – Goodbye Minnesota
  33. Duffy – Rockferry
  34. The Duke Spirit – Neptune
  35. Ed Kuepper – Ed Kuepper Live
  36. Ed Kuepper – Ed Kuepper Live Vol. 2
  37. Ed Kuepper – Ed Kuepper Live Vol. 3: The Euroboot Album
  38. The Fall – Imperial Wax Solvent
  39. Fennesz – Black Sea
  40. First Communion Afterparty – Sorry For All The Mondays And To Those Who Can’t Sing
  41. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
  42. Gas – Nah Und Fern
  43. Grails – Doomsdayer’s Holiday
  44. Grails – Take Refuge In Clean Living
  45. Grouper – Dragging A Dead Dear Up A Hill
  46. Headless Heroes – The Silence Of Love
  47. Helen Boulding – New Red Dress
  48. Hollow Ox – Hollow Ox
  49. Infadels – Universe In Reverse
  50. James Blackshaw – Litany Of Echoes
  51. Jane Birkin – Enfants D’hiver
  52. Jasper TX – Black Sleep
  53. Jasper TX – Closet Ghosts
  54. Jasper TX – This Quiet Season
  55. Je Suis Animal – Self-Taught Magic From A Book
  56. Juliana Hatfield – How To Walk Away
  57. Kontakte – Soundtracks To Lost Road Movies
  58. Ladytron – Velocifero
  59. Lakes Of Russia – Stars Decorate The Fire
  60. Lau Nau – Nukkuu
  61. Lawrence English – Kiri No Oto
  62. Lights Out Asia – Eyes Like Brontide
  63. Lola Dutronic – In Berlin
  64. The Long Blondes – Couples
  65. The Lovetones – Dimensions
  66. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
  67. Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets – Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets
  68. Nicole Atkins – Digs Other People’s Songs
  69. Our Sleepless Forest – Our Sleepless Forest
  70. Piano Magic – Dark Horses EP
  71. Portishead – Third
  72. The Postmarks – By The Numbers
  73. The Quarter After – Changes Near
  74. Quiet Village – Silent Movie
  75. R.E.M. – Accelerate
  76. The Raveonettes – Sometimes They Drop By
  77. The Raveonettes – Wishing You A Rave Christmas
  78. Red Sparowes – Aphorisms
  79. Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
  80. School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
  81. Scott Tuma – Not For Nobody
  82. Secret Machines – Secret Machines
  83. The Shortwave Set – Replica Sun Machine
  84. Sophie Hunger – Monday’s Ghost
  85. Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis – Indian Giver
  86. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E
  87. Stereolab – Chemical Chords
  88. Steve Kilbey – Painkiller
  89. Suki Ewers – Kind Of Hazy
  90. Thee American Revolution – Buddha Electrostorm
  91. Ulaan Khol – Ulaan Khol I
  92. Ulaan Khol – Ulaan Khol II
  93. The Verve – Forth
  94. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
  95. The Walkmen – You & Me
  96. White Hinterland – Luniculaire EP
  97. Windy & Carl – Songs For The Broken Hearted
  98. Windy Weber – I Hate People
  99. Wire – Object 47
  100. Wooden Shjips – Wooden Shjips Vol. 1
  101. Wye Oak – If Children
  102. Yellow6 – When The Leaves Fall Like Snow
  103. Yo La Tengo – They Shoot, We Score

Running The Numbers II: 2008 in Movies

What I watched in 2008. Only counting things I saw for the first time.

  1. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
  2. American Gangster (2007)
  3. Arabesque (1966)
  4. Atonement (2007)
  5. Australia (2008)
  6. The Bank Job (2008)
  7. Battle Beneath The Earth (1967)
  8. Beautiful Losers (2008)
  9. Brass Target (1978)
  10. Breach (2007)
  11. Burn After Reading (2008)
  12. Charley Varrick (1973)
  13. Cloverfield (2008)
  14. Control (2007)
  15. Crazy Love (2007)
  16. The Dark Knight (2008)
  17. Disturbia (2007)
  18. Enchanted (2007)
  19. Encounters At The End Of The World (2007)
  20. The Enemy Below (1957)
  21. The Fast And The Furious (1955)
  22. The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)
  23. Flawless (2007)
  24. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
  25. The Good German (2006)
  26. Gran Torino (2008)
  27. I’m Not There (2007)
  28. In Bruges (2008)
  29. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
  30. Into The Wild (2007)
  31. Iron Man (2008)
  32. Jandek On Corwood (2003)
  33. Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
  34. The Last Woman On Earth (1960)
  35. The Laughing Policeman (1973)
  36. Leatherheads (2008)
  37. Man On Wire (2008)
  38. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2008)
  39. Pacific Rendezvous (1942)
  40. Paris, je t’aime (2006)
  41. Persepolis (2007)
  42. Phenomena (1985)
  43. Pineapple Express (2008)
  44. Quantum Of Solace (2008)
  45. The Rat Race (1960)
  46. Recount (2008)
  47. Revolutionary Road (2008)
  48. Serenity (2005)
  49. The Sniper (1952)
  50. Someone’s Watching Me (1978)
  51. Speed Racer (2008)
  52. Sweet And Lowdown (1999)
  53. The Ten (2007)
  54. There Will Be Blood (2007)
  55. Tropic Thunder (2008)
  56. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
  57. Viva Las Vegas (1964)
  58. WALL-E (2008)
  59. What We Do Is Secret (2007)
  60. Word Wars (2004)
  61. The X Files: I Want To Believe (2008)
  62. You Kill Me (2007)

Running The Numbers I: 2008 in Books

What I read in 2008:

  1. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs — The Election that Changed the Country by James Chace
  2. An Eye at the Top of the World by Pete Takeda
  3. Flicker by Theodore Roszak
  4. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon
  5. Japrocksampler: How the Post-War Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock ‘n’ Roll by Julian Cope
  6. Led Zeppelin’s “Led Zeppelin IV” (33 1/3 series) by Erik Davis
  7. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
  8. R.E.M.’s Murmur (33 1/3) by J. Niimi
  9. Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes by Sylvie Simmons
  10. The First World War by John Keegan
  11. The Formula by Steve Shagan
  12. The Other End by John Shirley
  13. The Prankster and the Conspiracy: The Story of Kerry Thornley and How He Met Oswald and Inspired the Counterculture by Adam Gorightly
  14. The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands by Nicholas Clapp
  15. Three Days to Never by Tim Powers
  16. Throbbing Gristle’s Twenty Jazz Funk Greats (33 1/3) by Drew Daniel
  17. Tommy Dorsey: Livin’ in a Great Big Way by Peter J. Levinson
  18. Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America by Yuri Shvets