"That word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
In between the yummy dinner of homemade chicken fajitas, and the Jello-provided chocolate pudding for dessert, I perused the front page of today's Wall Street Journal. Above the fold was a puff piece on Al Franken's senatorial run* in Minnesota, and it included this tidbit, "... the bane of conservative talk-radio" in describing Franken. Webster's defines "bane" as "a source of harm or ruin; curse". Such is what I always held "bane" to mean as well. So I sat and thought, after having read those words, that while one might be able to argue that Franken has harmed conservative talk radio, I cannot imagine it has been to the extent of earning the the moniker of "bane". He certainly hasn't brought conservative talk radio to ruin, not now when it is stronger than ever. Therefore one might surmise that writer June Kronholz and her editors at the WSJ either, (a) don't have a twelth-grade education, or (b) don't know how to type "www.m-w.com" in to their web browser address bar. A better description of Mr. Franken's relationship to conservative talk radio might be "source of material", or, if one were feeling generous toward Mr. Franken, "adversary". (Mr. Franken can thank my friend, Mr. Lawson, for that one.) One might also note Ms. Kronholz's mention of Mr. Franken's short-lived career at Air America: "He left that gig in February." She fails to include words to the effect of "...due to lack of ratings and lack of revenue." Mr. Franken may be a lot of things to conservative talk radio, Ms. Kronholz, but "bane" is not one of them. Please choose your words more carefully next time, noting that Webster's also has a thesaurus.**
*Subscription may be required to read. ** (A "thesaurus", Ms. Kronholz, is a volume used to find words of similar or antithetical nature.)
MarsEdit 2
My favorite blogging client has now been revved to version 2. I've been using MarsEdit ever since original developer Brent Simmons rolled out the 1.0 product, and I've been very happy with it. A couple of months ago, I began beta-testing new owner Daniel Jalkut's upgrade of the client, and wow, was I ever blown away. Brent never really had the time to devote to MarsEdit, what with the popularity of NetNewsWire, and Daniel has definitely taken MarsEdit to the next level. One thing I've noticed, being on the beta test lists of a few independent and small-shop Mac developers, is the level of responsiveness from those developers. You're talking directly with the individual responsible for the product, not some project manager or mid-level flunky who really doesn't get what's going on with the application. Daniel is no exception, encouraging great participation from those on the beta list, and he always maintains a professional, and very friendly, attitude. It sounds like the the upgrade release is a hit so far, and no wonder, because MarsEdit 2 is a great product. Great job, Daniel!
links for 2007-09-04
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Author Steven Poole gives up on Microsoft Word, which I continue to maintain is overkill for 90 percent of the word processing population. Like killing a fly with a cruise missile...
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A free, lean word processor for Mac OS X by James Hoover.
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James Hoover's essay on the thinking that went in to the creation of Bean, notably as a successor for WriteNow, as a lean, mean, writing machine.
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An article from February 2001 by Marten van de Kraats, in which he details the need for a lean word processor on the newly born Mac OS X. Marten was a huge fan of WriteNow (as was I). This served as James Hoover's inspiration for Bean.
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Jos Buivenga has some outstanding fonts, and while he should be charging for them, he offers them as donationware instead. I love Fertigo!
ATPM 13.09
The September issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your reading pleasure. Former staffer, and still good friend, Raena Armitage provided us with a fun cover this month. Thanks again, Raena! If Rob didn't already have my undying friendship, well, by the power of Greyskull he has it now, managing to work our behind-the-scenes discussion of the new college football season in to this month's issue. (I confess, this is one reason why you're not seeing my iPhone review this month.) Wes covers the big story of the Mac blogosphere from last month, the outing of Fake Steve Jobs, as well as iPhone-related AT&T issues, the iMac refresh, the new Apple keyboard, the latest addition to the iWork suite, and something having to do with brandy and lobster. Regarding that last, maybe our Wes has been sniffing too much newspaper ink at work or something. Mark laments the Microsoft-blinders of myriad IT professionals, who don't quite get that not everyone uses Windows, much less Internet Explorer. And speaking of Microsoft, Mark wonders if there might not be some new measurement of time coming forth. If you've ever needed a fancy tile graphic, Lee's got the lowdown for you in this month's Photoshop For The Curious, so you can knock it out without having to resort to talking to Crunch, the neon-blue mohawked graphic designer with the spike through his cheeks who blasts emo rock from his cubicle. ATPM reader Jennifer Curry was kind enough to share some shots she took in 2004 from Australia's Great Ocean Road. These are some breathtaking views of The 12 Apostles and the London Bridge rock formations. Thanks so much, Jennifer! More and more, the swing dance hall offers naught but misery for Cortland, while Todd suffers iPhone temptation. We’re also given a handy guide to online forum denizens. Matthew explores the under-the-hood utility Cocktail, which, last time we checked, was not a Tom (Maniac) Cruise vehicle. Ed covers Curio 4.0, while Eric dives in to my feed reader of choice, NetNewsWire 3.0. ATPM's official flight deck officer, Chris Lawson, isn't suitably impressed with the radioSHARK 2, while Linus puts Snapz Pro X through its screen-capturing paces. Finally, Wes looks at the online, free-form information manager Stikkit, which doesn't even require a Mac to use, just a web browser. Preferably one which is not from The-Company-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named. (Sorry. I'm currently reading through the Potter series for the first time ever. Apparently, it's having an effect.) As usual, this issue of ATPM is available in a variety of formats to suit your wants, desires, and needs.
On being a wall
[Tony Woodlief](a href="http://www.tonywoodlief.com/archives/001260.html), author of the great Raising Wild Boys Into Men:
Sometimes as a parent you feel like a wall. One side of you is hard chipped stone. The side facing these little ones is smoothed, its cracks spackled as best you can manage. Sometimes your child will run a finger along one of those cracks, and when he does this you know you can go on standing, no matter the weight, until he is strong and ready to beat back the world with his own muscle and bone and faith.
links for 2007-09-01
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Until Apple decides to give us this obvious, brain-dead feature for free, you can get whatever ringtones you want on to your iPhone with iToner. $15, free to try for 30 days (some features not available during trial)
"Is the N in NFL for Nancy?"
The Dallas Stars have gone on the offensive, and hockey season hasn't even started yet. As part of a new ticket sales campaign, several billboards have gone up around the Dallas metroplex, poking fun at the other three major sports, all represented in the metro area. The jab at baseball is a little weak, if you ask me, and the obvious NBA poke is time- and scandal-sensitive. My favorite of the billboards, however, is the funniest and the most enduring. Taking a shot at the NFL, it reads:
Take that, Cowboy fans.
links for 2007-08-29
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Somewhere in this house is the Mont Blanc pen my wife received as a law school graduation gift. She doesn't use it. Until I find it for myself, I'll be content with my G-2s.
links for 2007-08-28
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For soon-to-be moms and dads. Wish I would've thought out something like this when the little phisch was in diapers.
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The domain and title are pretty self explanatory.
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Thinking of switching to Mac? (You should.) Just bought a new Mac? (Hurray!) This site will be very helpful to you either way.
Yet another reason I love Twitter
(And why you should be following my Twitter feed, if you're not already.) Daniel Jalkut:
The best thing about using Twitter for chat is you're never online, and you're always online. As far as the world is concerned.
links for 2007-08-26
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Print these out and cover those new textbooks. I wish we would have had cool art like these when I was a young Star Wars geek...
links for 2007-08-25
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The web companion to the monthly magazine Shooting Illustrated.
links for 2007-08-24
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Even I am not that big of a nerd to wear this... (When they sell the full suit of mail, with gloves, boots, helmet, sword, belt, and shield, for a couple hundred, then maybe we'll talk.)
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"Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your CSS development time. It gives you a solid CSS foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, and even a stylesheet for printing."
links for 2007-08-22
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"Give to charity just by searching the Internet." Powered by Yahoo!, there are two boxes; one for your search term, one for the charity you wish to support with that search. You search, money's donated. I learned of this through Prison Fellowship.
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And coming right on the heels of the Terraminds Twitter search mentioned yesterday, Twitter announces you can now search people profiles from any Twitter page.
links for 2007-08-21
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A search engine for Twitter, letting you search in updates, or for users.
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Love the Beatles? Love Star Wars? Then you'll love this cultural mashup of the Star Wars characters posed as if on the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
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Official Star Wars poker chips, two casino-quality card decks, a Death Star dealer button, and, of course, a Star Wars branded case: which contains LEDs to light up the chips lightsaber-style. Sweetheart, take note, this is going on the wishlist...
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As Chris Messina twittered, "Best use of Web 2.0 shwag evar."
links for 2007-08-20
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It's in German, but it's pretty easy to figure the table out. You can see what fonts are used by corporations for their logos and brands. Typophiles, rejoice.
links for 2007-08-19
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Orson Scott Card on Michael Mann (not the director/producer) cooking the books to prove humanity's responsible for global warming instead of being, you know, honest with his algorithms and data.
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I wouldn't roll as a pirate, but I like this shirt.