An Open Letter to Larry Page

Dear Larry, Please – stop it! You killed Google Reader. Then you killed Latitude. Then I just found out that you stopped supporting XMPP server-to-server federation back in March. No wonder I couldn’t get external friends to IM with me! I moved off of my own XMPP server to use Google because you supported federation. You complain that nobody is working towards open standards, so you pull your support for it? You’re supposed to be better than the other guy. Set an example, don’t play at their level. Microsoft will quickly pick me up where you so curtly dropped me off.

The Schwartz Modulation

I’d like to introduce the term “Schwartz Modulation” to the Musical Theater community.

I want to start by saying that I have the utmost respect for Mr. Schwartz, as I believe he is a fantastic and prolific composer. Indeed, I would not have noticed this pattern had I not repeatedly listened to many of his works. Composers all have their own unique cadences and progressions that they like to use, and one that is particularly favored by Mr. Schwartz is what I now call the Schwartz Modulation (SM).