Episode 890

Get Audible
Regular correspondent Steve Miller spent 2 hours trying to get Paul Minshall's Audible Theme out of his head.  In the end he had to go to the Audible website, and bought himself Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a book previously recommended by Leo and Paul Thurrott of Windows Weekly.

Pride and Prejudice: Zombies Edition
Weekend Pursuits
If you're in NYC at the moment, Dick recommends an exhibition organised by Gladstone Gallery of works by Basil Wolverton, dubbed by a New York Times article as "The Michelangelo of MAD".  Then head off to the High Line Park.

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Episode 889

Lighters' Encores
Leo remarks that these days when the audience want an encore in a concert, instead of holding up their lighters, they hold up their cellphones.  Gone are the Zippo and Ronson lighters, although the companies are still around.  Zippo even makes a Virtual Zippo Lighter app on the iPhone, as Leo demonstrates, along with the iHandy Carpenter.  Video clip from odtv.me.

Leica Distos Abound
John Boline, from Elgin, Illinois, is a land surveyor and uses the Leica Disto (Episode 880) all the time, and assures Dick and Leo that many a surveyor or contractor owns one or more of the Leica Distos.

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Episode 888

Panasonic Vibration Headphones
While in Japan, Leo bought a smart pair of Panasonic headphones for Henry, but was disappointed to find when he came back that they were available at Amazon.  This reminds Dick of a crazy pair of Panasonic headphones in the Gadget Warehouse which sat behind your neck and would vibrate to the beat of the music. Could they be the Panasonic Shaker Extreme RP-HS900?

Panasonic Shaker Extreme Headphones
Knuckles Calendar
Long-time listener Anish, whose name rhymes with "quiche", as "Leo" rhymes with "mayo", has not written for a while but assures Dick that he's still a fan.  In Episode 876 Dick and Leo talked about nursery rhymes which help children remember how many days there are in each month.  Unlike some of us, Anish is still young enough to remember the things his parents taught him, one of which is the knuckles calendar.  The bumps represent the long months, and the valleys represent the short ones, as Leo ably demonstrates.

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Update on August 7, 2009 by Inside DGW

A Pictorial Illustration of the Knuckles Calendar
You just never know what ticks with the listeners, who would pick up the most insignificant, tangential and off-the-cuff remarks from Dick and Leo.  Listener Anish picked up the snippet of conversation between Dick and Leo about remembering the number of days in each month in Episode 876.  Now another listener, Verena Fuchs (who wrote in Episode 839 about the Ig Nobel Prizes), has found the discussion so compelling that she went off and found a pictorial illustration of the Knuckles Calendar (via Verena's email to Dick).

The Knuckles Calendar

Episode 887

Wireless Speakers
For options other than the Eos Wireless Speaker System, check out loyal listener and gadget hound Steve Miller's recommendation in Episode 682, the Logitech Squeezebox Boom, or the Sonos System which Leo would love to get his hands on.

Sonos
Crust and the Ten Commandments
Dr Mark Sukoenig is well connected in the medical and related fields.  Hailing from Syracuse, New York, Dr Mark would have been served when he was young by the inventor of the Brannock Device (see his letter in Episode 280).  Not only that, he is also a distant cousin of Herman Klotz, a dentist whose name happened to be used byin a MAD satire on Crest, called Crust, for which he was handsomely compensated by having a stack of MAD magazines sent to him.  For the cover of the relevant MAD Issue No.43, visit Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site.  Dick remembers that MAD did a visual Ten Commandments, and for "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery", MAD used a picture of a motel, and the motel owner was similarly compensated.

MAD Issue No.43 - collectmad.com
Gotcha!
Dr Mark likes to listen to the Daily Giz Wiz while driving.  Just last month, he was doing the same thing, and he laughed so hard that he lost control of the car, the car skidded on an ice slick, flipped over in a snow bank, hit a tree .... and got Leo, but not the street-wise Dick Debartolo.

Giz Wiz Meet-Up
Don't forget about the Giz Wiz Meet-Up in the evening of Tuesday 11 August in San Francisco.

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Episode 886

Giz Wiz Meet-Up
Dick will be at the TWiT Cottage in Petaluma on Tuesday 11 August for the recording of Daily Giz Wizzes including Episode 900.  That evening there will be a meet-up with Dick, Leo and Dane Golden in San Francisco.  The time and venue have not been decided yet.  Dick and Leo need to know how many people are likely to turn up for the event.  Send Dick an email at dick@gizwiz.biz with the subject line "Meet-Up" if you're interested.  Watch out for further details on Dick's main page for the Daily Giz Wiz.

Giz Wiz Jingles World Tour
Starting 1 October, there will be a world tour of an orchestra playing music from all 6 episodes of Star Wars.  Dick reckons they should have the Giz Wiz Jingles World Tour.  Leo thinks it should take place in the subways of the world.  That way, you get an echo effect, and a guaranteed audience.

The First Michael Jackson Posthumous Hit?
Leo asked (in Episode 883), and he has now received, a Michael Jackson Letters Jingle, from musical archivist Dan Lueders.  Michael Jackson's first posthumous hit?

TiWT
Leo has just received a new TWiT hat that looks great in the mirror.  No problem with the trademark there.



Navionics
Joseph Colletti writes in to recommend an iPhone app called Navionics, a nautical chart plotter.

Navionics Mobile

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