ATPM 11.05
The May issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your reading pleasure. Ellyn discusses generic vs brand-name, and though she never states it--and maybe I'm just reading my own bias in to it--I'm sure there's a Mac vs PC thing in there as well. Wes's romp around the Mac blogosphere covers Photoshopped Apple products, how more Unix-heads are turning to OS X, stupid accessory manufacturers offering cash for someone to write a Mac virus, Apple plagiarizing CSS tutorials, and oh so much more. Paul's roaming through the ether reveals a solar-powered van, the excitement of watching lard via the web, the dumbest girl in on the planet (she's riding through Chernobyl's radiated zone), finding out just what the file extension's application is, and where to find a place to get a cup of coffee other than Starbucks. Tom Bridge checks in with this month's Pod People, and for that, we are grateful. David Blumenstein looks at how he has turned the Apple Store SOHO in to his own private office. Matthew Glidden, though tempted by the Mac Mini, decides to upgrade his Cube instead. (Ah, another kept within the brotherhood!) Cortland notes the Adobe-Macromedia "merger", reader Bill Jastram shares photos he and his wife took in the Canadian Rockies, and Frisky Freeware takes the plunge with Cyberduck. Chris Lawson continues his impressive slate of product reviews with Kensington's Expert Mouse 7.0, the Keynamics Laptop Stand, and the latest 15-inch PowerBook G4. Wes puts MacJournal through its paces, Paul shares his thoughts on Mind Hacks, and yours truly reviews the TransPod FM. As usual, the issue is available in a variety of formats for your reading pleasure.
WallyPower 118
Don't let the name fool you. This is the yacht to buy when you hit the jackpot. Just hope the jackpot's big enough for you to hire a crew as well.
BlackBerry 7100t no like SE Akono
If anyone out there figures out how to pair a BlackBerry 7100t with a Sony Ericsson Akono Bluetooth headset, please [let me know how](mailto:retrophisch@retrophisch.com?subject=BlackBerry/Akono pairing) you did it. So far, my attempts to get this to work for my wife have failed. The CrackBerry refuses to see the Akono set. It sees every other Bluetooth-enabled device in the house, but won't see the headset sitting right next to it.
Spotlight gotchas
Jeff Harrell has a good article on things to keep in mind when using Mac OS X Tiger's new Spotlight.
North Pole Wi-Fi
Intel is responsible for the northernmost wi-fi spot known, with placement approximately 130 kilometers from the North Pole.
Adobe's markets
Gruber sums up quite well my feelings about Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia:
Rather than expand into untapped creative markets, Adobe seems hell-bent on expanding into the jerks-wearing-suits market, a market that’s completely at odds with the creative market they’ve dominated for nearly two decades. Which is what happens when you put a sales guy in charge of a company that makes creative products. Which is Gruber's point.
We have met the enemy, and he is us
So the Toad directed my attention to a rant by Kim du Toit on how the ATF views law-abiding gun owners, in light of quotes from Gerald Nunziato, the former head of ATF's National Tracing Center. I think it's pretty clear how this government bureaucracy views gun owners, simply from the name of the agency. After all, we're just a bunch of beer-swilling, tobacco-chewing or cigarette-smoking rednecks who like to go blow holes in highway signs, aren't we?
Lawson on Locusts
Lawson has a blow-by-blow review of CBS's made-for-television Locusts:
2135: Three commercial breaks already and not one Ortho commercial? Someone at CBS missed a Golden Opportunity™.
Won but lost
The team improved to 6-1 today, as we lost to our friends at Flower Mound UMC, 14-10. Yes, that's right, we won, but we lost. FM UMC didn't have enough players to start the game, and had to forfeit. A couple of players from Trietsch UMC, who had just finished the game before ours, volunteered to play for FM UMC, so our two teams could play. This was, however, unbeknown to our entire team, with the exception of our coach. I'm glad we got to play, and equally glad that we technically won by forfeit, because as the game wore on, our play got worse, and we relinquished the lead. As for myself, I'll chalk up my poor fielding to the two-week layoff: a Texas Rangers game last Sunday, and out of town the week before that. I switched off with Dave between third and catcher, and I really didn't have a good day at either position. It seemed I could never get the ball down quick enough to tag a runner out (I never saw a forced play the entire game), and I made critical throwing errors which oftentimes meant an extra bag for the runner. I just plain sucked. I did have one great grab in the 3d inning, as I leapt to snag a high line drive that was going to drop in to shallow left center before it met my glove. One could say that I redeemed myself at the plate, but I didn't feel it. I like playing a solid, complete game. Offensively, this was my best game of the year. I went three for three, two singles and a triple, with two RBIs. The triple felt soooooo good coming off the bat. If I could have kept it about four feet flatter, it might have made it out of the park. As high as it was, it fooled the outfielder and got behind her, rolling to the fence. If it weren't for her strong-armed counterpart who got to the ball first, I might have had a chance at an in-the-park home run. A long shot, to be sure, but interesting and fun to think about. So after seven games, five of which I've played in, I'm 11 of 16, for an average of .687, with a walk and three RBIs for the season. Not bad, but still much room for improvement. Even more improvement is required on defense. This may come through more field time, should I start playing for the men's team on Thursday nights...
Star Wars Aurora
No, nothing to do with that wonderful phenomenon in northern night skies, but rather with Alienware's Star Wars special edition Aurora PCs. While no new PC is in our household's buying forecast, the artwork on these things is absolutely incredible. Now, if anyone wanted to generously donate a box to our home for the sole reason of playing Star Wars-related games, I prefer the Dark Side...
The two doors of the mosque
Muslim activist groups like CAIR wonder why a lot of Americans don't trust Muslims. Maybe it's because if everyone knew what was really going on behind the doors of the mosque, no one would trust them.
The same imam who demanded that the men continue in the path of jihad did a complete 180-degree turn in this session, stressing instead the suras that promoted the "brotherhood" between Muslims, Christians and Jews. "After all, we worship the same God, and follow the teachings in the books he gave each of us. We are all the same, we are all People of the Book," he stressed.
The differences between the sessions were striking. Clearly the second session was a recruiting session.
Were the women aware of what was being taught in the first session? Certainly those women who spoke Arabic should have been.
The reason for concern is obvious: Two different doctrines are being promoted. One peaceful, friendly, warm and fuzzy doctrine is being used to draw people in, with a focus on the well-being of their children.
But the Arabic-speaking sessions clearly have an anti-American tone.
ACLU "observers" aiding illegals, smoking dope
Volunteers with the Minuteman Project in Arizona say "legal observers" sent by the ACLU to monitor the citizen border patrol have been seen smoking marijuana in violation of the law.
[...]
[...] ACLU monitors sent to the border to watch Minuteman activity and report civil-liberties abuses to authorities have begun flashing lights, sounding horns and warning off illegals and their "coyote" human smugglers from entering territory patrolled by the volunteers.
[...]
A volunteer reported, according to the South East Arizona Republican Club, "The ACLU is getting desperate to get something on the Minutemen and are trying to provoke incidents now."
"They pushed one of the Minutemen the other night trying to get him to push back. Didn't work. Then last night they walked up and shined a spotlight right in a Minuteman's face from six inches or so away. Didn't work that time either. We immediately report these types of contacts with them to the sheriff to counter any claims they try to make against us. They should be called the UCLU (Un-American Civil Lawsuit Union).
"They give us the middle finger every chance they get to try to get us to react. We are still trying to figure out if that is their age or IQ." It's so nice to know the defenders of liberty and our Constitution are on the job down there in Arizona. Larger pictures of the alleged dope smoking can be found here. [With thanks to Israel R. for the links.]
What's in the Retrophisch™ Bag
Recently, Michael Hyatt revealed what was in his business carry-on, and posed the question to others of what is in their's. So here's the official inventory from the Phisch Bowl: The PowerBook 1 GHz 12-inch rides in a Waterfield Designs Sleevecase (with flap). This is tucked in to a sapphire-blue, Tom Bihn Brain Bag. (Anyone want to [trade me](mailto:retrophisch@retrophisch.com?subject=Brain Bag trade) a black Brain Bag?) The Sleevecase replaces the original Brain Cell I got with the pack, as it is for a 15-inch PowerBook no longer in my possession. In a WD medium Gear Pouch, I have stashed: my AC adapter for my third-generation, 40 GB iPod; three packs of iKlear Travel Singles screen cleaners; a Boostaroo for possible use with the iPod (it might came in handy while flying, so your mate can watch the movie on your PowerBook with you, instead of the in-flight entertainment--if there is any); a small voltage tester; and a wall socket circuit tester. The rest of my cables--with the exceptions of 25-foot RJ-45 (Cat-5 Ethernet) and RJ-11 lengths--reside in a black Tom Bihn Snake Charmer. These include: the long AC adapter for my PowerBook; a Madsonline MicroAdapter (it's good to have a spare); a Madsonline Auto/Air Adapter; a six-foot Ethernet crossover cable; a PowerPod; two Dock-connector FireWire cables; and a Fellowes Transient Surge Suppresser (a single-plug surge suppresser, complete with RJ-11 In and Out jacks). Stashed elsewhere in the Brain Bag's pockets and compartments, as well as in a Freudian Slip, also by Tom Bihn, are the following: a Kensington PocketMouse; a pair of Aiwa noise-cancelling headphones (the cans are actually more noise-reducing than they are cancelling, but for $50, they're a great value); a pad of stickie notes; 4 ink pens of various colors; the one-foot FireWire cable I use with the portable FireWire hard drives I pick and choose from; the AC adapter for my mobile phone; the VGA and DVI video adapters for my PowerBook; the battery recharger for my digital camera; a deck of playing cards; and a pocket first-aid kit. Part of my everyday kit that would also travel with me: Sony Ericsson T616, paired with a SE Akono HBH-602 Bluetooth Headset (silver plate, not the blue shown); the aforementioned 3G, 40 GB iPod; and a Canon PowerShot S500 with a 1 GB Compact Flash card. These tech toys ride in, respectively, a horizontal Krusell case, a Contour Design Showcase, and a Lowepro Rezo 20. Whew! I think that about does it. What's in your bag?
About that overvalued Euro...
...[A] study by a Swedish research organization, Timbro, which compared the gross domestic products of the 15 European Union members (before the 2004 expansion) with those of the 50 American states and the District of Columbia.
[...]
After adjusting the figures for the different purchasing powers of the dollar and euro, the only European country whose economic output per person was greater than the United States average was the tiny tax haven of Luxembourg, which ranked third, just behind Delaware and slightly ahead of Connecticut.
[...]
If the E.U. was treated as a single American state, it would rank fifth from the bottom, topping only Arkansas, Montana, West Virginia and Mississippi. In short, while Scandinavians are constantly told how much better they have it than Americans, Timbro's statistics suggest otherwise. [Via Political Diary.]
Lorem Scriptsum
Whenever I need to generate filler text, I've been using MacLorem. It's a handy little app, it's freeware, and it can generate text in Hawai'ian, which amuses me to no end. It generates text in other "dead" languages, though being a "dead language" is hardly the case with Hawai'ian. If you're looking for one less program in your Applications folder, however, you should check out Steve Wheeler's Lorem Scriptsum, an AppleScript that will generate the Lorem Ipsum dummy text and place it in the Clipboard for your use. I'm going to have to give this a try... [Via MacInTouch iWork Reader Report.]
WalkAmerica 2005
It's that time of the year again, when I pimp my readers for donations to a worthy cause. At the end of this month, my wife and I will be participating in the annual March of Dimes WalkAmerica in Dallas. We've both registered to raise money for the event, so I'm asking for donations, which you can contribute by going to my WalkAmerica web site. Our son, now a healthy 20-month-old toddler, was born 9 weeks premature and spent 6 weeks in the Neonatal ICU. During that time, we witnessed the good things done by the March of Dimes first hand. We’d appreciate any support you can give to this great event. Thanks!
On note-taking
Michael Hyatt has an excellent look at the art of note-taking. Like Merlin, Mr. Hyatt is a Moleskine aficionado. Maybe it's just me, but I can't see developing a fetish for a notebook.
Who's going with me to the midnight show?
Being the incredibly lame Star Wars geek that I am--I was six when Episode IV came out, and have been hooked ever since--I have made it a tradition to see the prequels at the midnight showing on release day. The first episode was a quiet affair, just my spouse and I. For Attack of the Clones, we organized a small gathering of our friends to go with us. Many things have changed in many of the lives that were with us that night of the last movie, including ours. We have a toddler now, and so my wife will not be making the midnight show of the last Star Wars film ever with me. Jeff has failed to respond to my inquiries. Michael isn't interested in the series enough to go. FranX doesn't do midnight shows for any movie. So how about it, Jim? Ricky? Brian? Dear God, who is the pathetic nerd typing this post?