LB's Rambles

"The League of Frightened Men"

On the Classic Mysteries podcast this week, you'll find a review of Rex Stout's "The League of Frightened Men." It was the second Nero Wolfe novel, first published in 1935, and it's a remarkable book. You can listen to a full review here.

Many years before the events in the book, a young Harvard student, Paul Chapin, was seriously and permanently injured as the result of a hazing incident involving a number of older students. Now, those older students are dying, one by one - possibly being murdered by Paul Chapin. The terrified men, calling themselves "the League of Frightened Men," come to Nero Wolfe, asking him to stop Chapin from terrorizing and murdering them.

Paul Chapin is one of the most interesting and memorable characters to come out of any of the Nero Wolfe books, and the resulting mystery that surrounds him is one of the most satisfying in any of the Nero Wolfe books. The characters of Wolfe and Archie (and the other regulars) were still being formed in this book, and there are rough edges and some jarring notes, but they do not distract from the main story of the book - nor do they distract from the character of Paul Chapin. It is a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying book.

Android Keeps Moving Up

Verizon iPhone or no Verizon iPhone, it looks as if Android's share of the smartphone market continues increasing. eMarketer has a new report today predicting that Android will have 31% of the market in 2012, putting it just above Apple's share. The current leader, Blackberry maker RIM, will see its share shrink to about 23%, according to eMarketer.

In reporting on the latest numbers, MediaPost's MoBlog finds other studies which suggest that Android has already matched Apple's share, although RIM is comfortably ahead of both other operating systems. The difference, as MoBlog points out, is likely to be the overall quality of the experience each system can offer - which means it's really a features/apps/multimedia duel between Android and Apple iOS. Sounds like the consumer ultimately will be the winner.

"The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries"

The review this week on the Classic Mysteries podcast is of "The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from Inspector Cockrill's Casebook," by Christiana Brand. It's a collection of all the short stories (plus a radio play) featuring her marvelous detective, Inspector Cockrill, and you can listen to the full review here.

Cocky, as he's known, is a marvelous character - a detective who sometimes makes grave errors, even if those errors ultimately lead to a satisfactory resolution to a particular case. Brand is a master at creating memorable characters, particularly villains; sometimes, in fact, she makes a villain sympathetic enough for us to regret it when that villain runs up against Inspector Cockrill.

The stories have nice touches of humor and excellent, classic mystery plots, with clues fairly presented to the reader. The collection also contains Brand's own essay on Inspector Cockrill along with an excellent critical introduction by Tony Medawar. It's another entry in Crippen & Landru's invaluable "Lost Classics" series.

Math, Centuries and Facebook Memes

So the latest post-it-to-your-status meme making the rounds on Facebook apparently is a magic number trick: for anyone born in the last century, you take the last two digits of the year you were born, add your age this year and magically it comes out to 111. Amazing.

Or not. Let's do a little basic math, folks - it's not that hard.

Start with the fact that there are exactly 100 years in a century. Everybody in agreement here?

So ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, the last two digits of the year in which you were born plus your age in the last year of the century will equal...100.

And we are in the eleventh year of the next century, so when you add 11 to that number you get...exactly 111.

Example: Say you were born in 1965. Last two digits, obviously, are 65. So in 2000, you were...35. 65+35=100. Right? Can't be anything else. Count up on your fingers and toes a few times if you have to. And here we are 11 years later, so you MUST be 46. No cheating, please!

So what do we have? From 1900 to 2011 is...111 years.

From 1900 to 1965 (when you were born) is...65 years.

From 1965 to 2011 is...46 years (35+11, right?).

Add 65 (years before you were born) to 46 (your age)...and you get 111 years.

HINT: Next year, in 2012, the same "trick" will miraculously add up to...112 YEARS. Golly, Mr. Houdini, how did you do that trick?

Ain't math wonderful?

Don't Rush Into an iPhone

As I wrote here last week, I am underwhelmed by the iPhone's arrival at Verizon. From what I can see, the phone will have serious limitations - which, with a two-year contract locking me into current technology, is more than I'm willing to endure.

I see I'm not alone. Some of the best reasons not to rush into an iPhone with Verizon may be found in this commentary by Shelly Palmer at MediaBizBloggers. I think he's right on target.

The iPhone is a cool device, but the version coming to Verizon is going to be too restricted in its capabilities to me of much value to me. I'll wait for the next generation. If I know Apple, I probably won't have very long to wait.

Lessons in Speechwriting from "I Have a Dream"

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, Andrew Dlugan has posted an interesting article at ragan.com, called "‘I Have a Dream’ holds 5 lessons for speechwriters." There's no question (in my mind, anyway) that Dr. King's speech was one of the finest, most moving and powerful speeches of the 20th century, and Dlugan examines at least five techniques which Dr. King used to make that speech the powerhouse that it is. Worth reading for all communicators!

"Punch with Care"

Our review this week on the "Classic Mysteries" podcast is of Phoebe Atwood Taylor's "Punch with Care," first published in 1946. It could give a whole new interpretation to the phrase "ticket to ride": a woman is found dead in a private railroad car, clutching a punched green ticket. Before Cape Cod semi-amateur detective Asey Mayo can even report the murder, however, the body disappears - and the story takes off in several amusing directions at once. You can listen to the full review here.

"Punch with Care" is one of the last of Taylor's books about Asey Mayo, the so-called "Codfish Sherlock." He's a delightful character, and Taylor put a lot of her knowledge about Cape Cod, its people and its customs into these books. I think it's one of the better entries in the series and a good entertaining reading choice for a chilly winter's night.

Verizon Gets the iPhone - So?

At last, at last, the whole world has changed, for Verizon is getting the iPhone! World peace is at hand! Every day is win-the-lottery day! Let joy be unconfined! Dancing in the streets! To infinity and beyond! And...

Yawn.

Sorry, folks. After waiting so long for Verizon to get the iPhone, I find myself considerably underwhelmed by what I am reading about its implementation. Seems that the Verizon version of the iPhone won't be able to do all the neat-kid tricks of the AT&T version. It will only run on Verizon's older 3G network (I smell a future expensive upgrade that will benefit Apple, of course). You can't make a phone call AND surf the web or check email.

In other words, it's a "sort-of" situation - for people who ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT AN IPHONE, well, there's sort of a solution here.

But for me? Well, I got my Droid about 15 months ago, and I'm very happy with it. It does everything I need it to do. My Android apps are pretty robust. I'm not sure what I'm missing from the iPhone that I can't do as well on my Droid. Of course, I do have an iPad, so I can run a lot of iPhone apps if I want to. I don't much want to.

Perhaps by the time my existing contract runs out, at the end of the year, I'll see if the iPhone has been upgraded and whether it's worth the hassle and the expense of changing. For now, meh.

"Artists in Crime"

Our review this week on the Classic Mysteries podcast is of "Artists in Crime," by Ngaio Marsh, a 1938 mystery very much in the best traditions of the Golden Age of Detection. Marsh wrote nearly three dozen novels featuring Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn. While Alleyn makes an excellent investigator, it is his personal life that dominates "Artists in Crime," for it is the book in which he meets his future wife, painter Agatha Troy. You can listen to the entire review here.

Troy is a fascinating character, a strong-willed woman (at a time when that was, perhaps, more the exception than the rule in English society) as well as a fine artist. While she is never seriously suspected of murdering one of her students, her role at the center of the artists' colony where the murder takes place does put her - and Alleyn - in very awkward positions.

I most particularly enjoy Marsh's development of her characters, and some of her finest creations are in this book. "Artists in Crime" is a fine love story as well as an excellent (and fair!) mystery, and it is very much worth your reading time.

The Aging of TV News

There's not a lot of good news about news, as far as television news outlets are concerned, in the latest study just released from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. According to this study, television is still the first choice overall as a primary source for news, cited by 66% of news consumers - but that is because it is the overwhelming favorite of the over-65 crowd. That aging audience is what's keeping TV News going.

What's more, younger audiences are moving to the Internet as their primary news source. For people younger than 30, the Internet is now the prime news source - according to Pew, the first time that has ever happened.Nearly 65% of 18-to-29 year olds say the Internet is their main source, a percentage that has nearly doubled in just three years. Mashable has zeroed in on this angle of the story, and there's a lot of good analysis available from their site.

Hat tip: Ragan's PR Daily