Jargonary
Can't keep all of that techno-computer jargon straight in your head? Ever wonder what a PNG is? You need Jargonary, a shareware product for both Mac and Windows. No affiliation with the product or author; just thought it was nice (though I think it's overpriced at $20).
Prom Night
So I took my wife to the prom last night. No, we didn't go to a high school as chaperones. We went to the 2d Chance Prom that benefits the Kidd's Kids charity. Dallas radio personality Kidd Kraddick's charity takes terminally ill kids to Disney World each year, and this event is their primary fund-raiser. I rented a tux, my bride bought a lovely dress that she'll get multiple use out of (unlike most prom dresses), and we had a great dinner at Sonoma before heading off to the prom. Half concert, half dance party, the 2d Chance Prom was a gas. Texas native Jennifer Love Hewitt performed four songs with just an acoustic guitar player accompanying her. This cutie can sing, and she was well received by the crowd. A little over half an hour later, MC Hammer and company took the stage for an eight-song set that capped off with a non-stop medley of his big hits "Can't Touch This," "2 Legit 2 Quit," and "Pray." I don't go for the hip-hop scene, but Hammer's set was enjoyable. It's amazing the energy he and his crew brought to the stage. My only druthers are with the DJ's music selection. Way too much hip-hop/techno/dance remix stuff. We got there before 9, left a little after midnight, and there was only one slow song played the entire time. There's also plenty of normal pop and rock out there that's good for dancing. And whoever remixed AC/DC's "Shook Me All Night Long" to a dance beat should be put against a wall and shot for messing with a classic rock anthem. All in all, we had a fun time. I'll post a pic of my gorgeous wife and I when we get our prom pics in a couple of weeks.
Rumsfeld Sorry for Embarrassing Anti-War Celebrities
You can read the full story here.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized to the celebrity community for the outcome of the war yesterday at his daily press briefing. "In spite of the joy we feel at what happened in Baghdad this week, it is tinged with sadness as we know that we have embarrassed and disappointed the many members of the celebrity community who wanted us to fail."
Dictionary for Comicholics
For thorough research of words in the world of comics, be sure to use Ka-BOOM! The Dictionary of Champions.
Dozens Dead in Chicago Meatwave
As if terrorism wasn't enough to worry about, now we have this to contend with.
Quote of the moment
"The Christian faith is not about mere intellectual assent to a set of doctrines, but about a daily walk with this person Jesus. It's about living in awareness of Christ risen, resurrected, and living in my life. Even though doctrine is important, wisdom in the Bible has more to do with character and the art of living. Christianity is about living out the will of God, and living abundantly." -- Rich Mullins
Is it or isn't it? (Hint: It is...)
Brian has a good analysis and links of the infamous 9th Circuit Court's refusal for a full court hearing on California's "assault" weapons ban. By definition, an "assault" weapon is one capable of fully automatic fire; full-auto firearms are illegal to own anywhere in the U.S. unless you have a Class III Federal Firearms License. The fact that a firearm may look like an "assault" weapon doesn't make it one, despite how the news media continues to call semi-automatic (one squeeze of the trigger, one shot) firearms "assault" weapons. I hope and pray that the Supreme Court does hear this case, and rules it as the individual Constitutional right it is. Yes, the fact is that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Read your Federalist Papers; all of the Founding Fathers believed this to be so. Why would they place a state right within nine other individual rights? And place it so highly in status? The Second is for individuals, not the states, and not for the state.
More for Kelly
Can't Stop Lovin' You Hey! There's a time and place for everything. For everyone We can push with all our might, but nothin's gonna come Oh no, nothin's gonna change An' if I ask you not to try, oh could you let it be? I wanna hold you and say We can't throw this all away Tell me you won't go, you won't go You have to hear me say I can't stop lovin' you And no matter what I say or do You know my heart is true, oh I can't stop lovin' you You can change your friends, your place in life You can change your mind We can change the things we say, and do any time Oh no, but I think you'll find That when you look inside your heart Oh baby, I'll be there. Yeah! Hold on. I'm holdin' on Baby, just come on, come on, come on I just wanna hear you say I can't stop lovin' you And no matter what you say or do You know my heart is true, oh-oh! I can't stop lovin' you Oh, I'm so twisted and tied And all I remember, was how hard we tried Only to surrender And when it's over I know how it's gonna be And true love will never die Or, not fade away And I can't stop lovin' you And no matter what I say or do You know my heart is true, oh I can't stop lovin' you And I know what I got to do Hey Ray, what you said is true, oh I can't stop lovin' you, oh no Oh, can't stop lovin' you © Copyright 1995-2000 Van Halen From VH's site:
This was the first single from "Balance" and the song became the band's 16th Top 40 single! The Ray Sammy refers to in the song is Ray Charles, who had a hit with the Don Gibson original, "I Can't Stop Loving You" in 1962.
By far one of my favorite VH songs, right behind "Dreams." I love you, sweetheart.
One million in one week
Yeah, I know everyone has read how the Apple Music Store has sold more than a million songs in its first week. But Lee has broken down what that means, and the results are impressive. Better than one-and-a-half songs sold per second. I can't wait to see Apple's financials on this as the year progresses. My stock has already gone up about three bucks a share in the past week.
ATPM 9.05
Crikey! I completely forgot to mention that the May issue of About This Particular Macintosh has been published. Doh! I talked Lee in to interviewing our mutual acquaintance, Jon Gales, a total Mac-head who has an awesome mobile phone site, MobileTracker.net. I've been relying heavily on information Jon posts for our upcoming mobile plan/handy switch when our current contract is up at the end of June. Matthew Coates has a great article on Acrobat, PDFs, and OS X. Lee went to the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Vegas, and offers a Mac-centric perspective. Ellyn offers a fantastic column on the virtues of the Golden Rule and our online lives. The usual assortment of reviews abound.
Synergy vs PTHiTunesNotifier
So Lee asked what made Synergy worth $5 when PTHiTunesNotifier was free and did essentially the same thing. So I decided to run down a quick comparison of the two.
- PTHiTunesNotifier offers more button choices for the button controls in the menu bar (though I prefer Synergy's choices over PTHiTunesNotifier's)
- PTHiTunesNotifier offers more control over the layout of the track display window
- Synergy has a few more hot key options for controlling iTunes
- Synergy offers greater control over the menu bar buttons
- Synergy includes recently played tracks in its drop-down menu; it is able to remember up to the last 50 songs played (set in the number in the prefs)
- Synergy includes the Playlist and iTunes submenus (if you don't want to use hot keys to control iTunes)
- Synergy offers button spacing control (this can be important when you have tons of stuff in your menu bar, like I tend to)
Freedom <i>of</i>, not freedom <i>from</i>
Jon Dougherty has an outstanding piece on the Supreme Court's recent unconstitutional ruling of the Ten Commandments display case in Kentucky.
Synergy
Michael turned me on to Synergy, a menu-bar utility for controlling iTunes, and it freaking rocks! Well worth the $5 shareware fee. One feature is the transparent floater that pops up when tracks change. Click on the thumbnail below for detail, then cruise to Wincent's site, download, and register!
InDVDiana Jones
My gorgeous mother-to-be spouse points out that Lucasfilm is releasing the Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD! Slated for release on November 4th, this will be at the top of my birthday (Dec 3) wish list.
iLoo
I wish I was making this up. From the idiot savants at Microsoft UK. (Note that the emphasis is not on "savants.") (Thanks, Ricky.)
And they're such a peaceful people...
You certainly can't blame the Israelis for decimating the Palestinian female ranks:
Each year, dozens and probably hundreds of brutal "honor killings" of Palestinian women and girls--most of whom are virtually blameless--go unreported, according to an anthropologist's recent study.
The story is scheduled for an issue of The World & I magazine.
Those incredibly intelligent, wonderfully sensitive celebrities
"I'm getting more famouser by the day." --Avril Lavigne "I quit flying five years ago. Personally, I don't want to die with tourists." --Billy Bob Thornton As reported in the 5 May 2003 issue of Us Weekly.
Freedom is not free: a reminder
Retired USAF Major Brian Shul delivered an address at March AFB on Veteran's Day 2001. Powerful stuff:
Yes, I believe God has blessed this nation in many ways, although sometimes we forget just how fortunate we really are...and now, after a horrific attack on our homeland, we find ourselves embattled in a war once again. And yet, there are many who seem unsure of the response we should take. Today, we honor so many who have given their lives, in defense of this country...row upon row of tombstones, silent vigils to their ultimate sacrifice. If the dead could speak today, they would tell you that all it takes for evil to succeed in the world if for good people to stand by and do nothing. They would emphatically declare to you that you negotiate with the enemy with your knee in his chest and your knife at his throat. And they would remind you that those who forget their history, are condemned to repeat it. We are a nation guilty of forgetting these lessons. Had we learned them better, our cemeteries would be less full. We fought a Cold War for so long, that perhaps we became weary and complacent, and when we won that war, we became soft. We indulged ourselves in the notion that the world was all-safe, and we thought a booming economy was ample substitute for a strong military. Did we really think electing self-serving politicians would make us stronger as a nation? Somehow we came to accept the notion that freedom was free. It never has been. The price of freedom has always been eternal vigilance. We need to understand that there are those in the world who would destroy us because our way of life threatens their quest for world domination.
iPod 1.3 software
While I'm very glad Apple provided us old iPod users with a way to sync and listen to AAC-encoded files, the one other feature I'm envious of, in the iPod 2.0 software on the new Pods, has to be the text notes. If I had that, my Palm handheld usage would likely drop off by fifty percent or more. (Thanks to Lee for the link.)
I have an accent?
A couple of days ago I was talking to my little sister on the phone (okay, she's 27, but she'll always be my "little" sister), and she stated that I was picking up a Texas accent. Seeing how I have long confounded people as to my origins by being pretty much accent-less, this is a trifle upsetting...