Stop SOPA, H.R. 3261

To All Our Friends & Colleagues, Near & Far....

A Christmas Screensaver for You from Gitanajava Productions LLC
(right-click, open to full-sized view, then d/l to your device.)

Happy Christmas & Merry New Year! 

أجمل التهاني بمناسبة الميلاد و حلول السنة الجديدة

Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo! 

¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo!

חג מולד שמח ושנה טובה

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr! 

สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส และสวัสดีปีใหม่ 

С наступающим Новым Годом ~ С Рождеством Христовым 

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!

BTW, Gitanajava Productions also designed and decorated the tree portrayed in this screensaver -- that's enough 3" tied-them-ourselves-bows and strategically placed candy canes to cover an 8' foot tree from top to bottom and all around, with no bare spots.

Make Yourself Merry!

I was looking for something evergreen, but phresh, to kick off my Christmas.  Thanks to friends at Google-Plus, I found just what I wanted, Sean Quigley's Little Drummer Boy.

You'll like this video so much, you'll want to own a copy -- buy Sean's work at www.cdbaby.com/seanquigley.  Follow him at Twitter, too -- @SeanQuigley204.  This guy is good.

The Coffeehouse Blues

Gitanajava = Gypsy Loves Coffee

(The original Rajah Coffee label was designed by Henri Meunier, 1897,

find it at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rajah-coffee-ad-1897-henri-meunier.jpg)

(This post was originally written, published, and distributed under the title The Coffee Canticle in December 2008.  Although the coffeehouse in question has long since passed on to the celestial heights, the thoughts and sentiments about what remain the same.)


Starbucks #6262, alias Lower Greenville Starbucks, officially closed 2 PM, Friday 19th December 2008.  Even before the farewell party ended at 6 PM, the guerrillas from Starbucks HQ arrived.  While the corpus delicti was still warm, they began taping sheets of brown butcher paper across the windows:  pulling the shroud tight.


When is a cup of coffee more than a cup of coffee?  What recombinant DNA transforms a mere java joint into a legend?

Buried Treasure, Part 2

5 Steps to Creating a LinkedIn Recommendation
To view full sized, go to http://tiny.cc/Endorse

In the original Buried Treasure article, we discussed the professionals' methods for requesting, shaping, and leveraging effective recommendations from colleagues and clients.  However, in my perfect world, I would have preceded that instruction with tonight's post and asked this crucial question --

Happy Thanks Day!

To all our friends, colleagues, correspondents, readers, and especially to our family scattered near and far, we're sharing two free screen savers/e-cards for the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. -- it's nigh upon us -- Thursday, 24th November 2011.  Both cards contain a special menu to help you celebrate the holiday with elan and cheer.

Un-occupy Gmail, Part 2

Since noting our strong objections to Google/Gmail's latest shenanigans in yesterday's post, Un-occupy Gmail, we're discovering other voices critical of their heavy-handed redesign.


Scott Wilson sees the Google/Gmail re-design rationale "shaping up to be an unmitigated disaster".

Un-occupy Gmail

If Necessity is the Mother of Invention, Who's Baby's Daddy?

Why We Won't Switch Voluntarily to the New Gmail UI

Over the past week or so, we've read all the blogs, news, and comments about the roll-out of Gmail's new look.  In the pursuit of truth, justice, and leaping tall buildings in a single bound, we even tolerated a couple of videos, and this is what it comes to:  until the G-men force us to change to the new look, we'll skip it.  It can roll right past us, thank you.

First, the "new and improved" Gmail UI is rife with advertising distractions.  The subtle "oh, by the way" is bye-bye.

Mercenary vs. Missionary....

Don Quixote's Windmill Adventure, by Dominica Alcantara
Find it at Fine Art America

On a Quest or For Sale?


A recent New York Times article recaps the failings of Netflix and CEO Hastings during the hasty and ill-considered move -- now aborted -- to divide the company and its customers into two camps with the creation of Qwikster.  How Netflix Lost 800,000 Customers and Goodwill, does more though, perhaps unintentionally:  it brings to light an interesting phrase delineating two principal entrepreneurial styles, the Missionary versus the Mercenary.

Forgotten Heroes, Abandoned Children, Devalued Seniors

1 of 5 prototypes for Stony Mountain Ranch logo & bizcards.
See them all at http://tiny.cc/STONY

The Challenge

What do the following people have in common?

• Aged-out foster children
• Military veterans returning to civilian life
• Devalued seniors