And just like that. . .
. . .Apple releases iCal 1.0.2. Apparently this is a bug-fix for a problem in 1.0.1 that caused some users "living in time zones 10 hours or more from Greenwich Mean Time to have their calendar data displayed incorrectly."
ATPM 9.01
About This Particular Macintosh enters its 9th calendar year of publishing with the January issue. Yours truly has a small review in this issue, as does my pal Lee, who reviews the ultracool Earthdesk. Paul examines the keyboard I lust after, and Michael has a great article on archiving email with Mail.app or Eudora.
Digitize Fido
Fido's info, that is. The stamped metal dog tags you buy from a vending machine at the pet store are so 20th century. The Dog-e-Tag is a US $40 battery-operated dog tag that stores up to 40 lines of text, viewable on a scrolling LCD. A standard watch battery will power the tag for about 2 years.
Tax cut lies
Thursday night, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNBC all decided to subtly berate President Bush’s upcoming economic stimulus package, which will include tax cuts. From the Media Research Center:
ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas worried: "President Bush will roll out more tax cuts, but will they benefit everyone?" On CBS, Bill Plante noted how President Bush "brushed aside the debate over whether his tax policy favors the rich" and that Bush's tax cut package set to be unveiled on Tuesday will "very likely" include "the very top tax rate despite the criticism that that will disproportionately benefit the wealthiest taxpayers." CNBC anchor Forrest Sawyer intoned that it's "a package that critics are already saying is not enough and helps the wrong people." NBC's David Gregory noted how Bush insists his tax cuts "are not simply a giveaway to the rich." NBC's Tom Brokaw stated that President Bush insisted his "plan to fix a struggling economy" will "help all Americans--not just the wealthy."
To the blowhard talking heads and other tax-and-spend leftists: it’s very hard to give tax breaks to people who are paying very little, if any, taxes. What the talking heads fail to mention is that from the IRS’s own records, we learn that in 2000, the bottom 50 percent of wage-earning Americans, those earning less than $27,682 annually, paid under 4 percent of the taxes. They paid 3.91 percent of the federal tax burden, to be exact. These are the people that need a tax break?
Contrast that with the top 5 percent of wage earners ($128,336), which paid 56.47 percent! And the top 50 percent of wage earners in the country paid the 96.09 percent that the bottom 50 didn’t, and still doesn’t, have to come up with.
To the point, half of the wage earners in this country pay nearly all the federal taxes, while the other half pays next to nothing.
So the economic lesson for today, boys and girls, is that if you’re poor in America, you’re paying very little, if any, federal taxes, and any proposed tax cuts are not going to impact you negatively. Therefore, talking heads need to stop instigating class warfare and shut their traps.
Debug your iPod
Slashdot has a post on accessing the secret debugging tools inside the iPod. (with a nod to Ric)
There are other teams, Dallas sports fans
As a transplanted Texan, one of the things that has bothered me since our move here in ‘98 has been how Cowboys-focused Dallas sports fans are. This year has been no exception; with “America’s Team” winning only 5 games, it has been wisely speculated for the past month if Dave Campo would remain the Cowboys head coach. This is how sad this town is when it comes to their NFL team: one news station interrupted a tornado warning to announce Campo’s firing earlier this week. A tornado warning! Now we know that Bill Parcels is the new head coach, blah, blah, blah.
Hello, Dallas? The Mavericks are kicking the tail out of every other team in the NBA, sitting alone atop the league. The Stars are trading the #1 spot in the NHL with Detroit and Ottawa on a nightly basis. You have championship-contending teams! They just don’t play in Texas Stadium.
Maybe now that the Cowboys’ season is over, you’ll pull your collective head out of Jerry Jones' butt and realize that. Go Stars!
Cotton Bowl observations
Longhorn Chris Simms lived down to his reputation and didn’t choke at a big game, closing out his collegiate career with a win. I can’t wait to see Simms and Major Applewhite in the NFL. UT had a solid game, but not what I would call a great or spectacular game. It seemed that to beat LSU, they had to resort to the big play time and time again to get the scores, while the Tigers put together drive after drive after drive. What can you say? The strategy worked for the Longhorns and failed for the Tigers. To me, the Tigers gave the game to UT, which wasn’t really playing, especially in the first half, like they truly wanted the win. Turnovers and the secondary on both sides were the major factors in this game. UT’s only score of the first quarter was on a recovered fumble run back for a touchdown; their offense contributed nothing. That would change by halftime, when the Tigers were down 21-17, from which they’d never recover. The Texas secondary was fantastic in its coverage, able to fall back against the run very quickly when needed. LSU’s secondary pretty much sucked at covering Roy Williams, who scored one touchdown for the Longhorns. To be honest, with such a high-powered Texas offense, I’m amazed the final score wasn’t more along the lines of 42-20, 49-20, or 56-20.
Neither team really capitalized well on turnovers and penalties on the opposition. Speaking of penalties, what conference did these lame officials come from? We had a couple of pretty nice Texas fans sitting behind us, and we all agreed that there was some major holding and blocking from the back going on on both sides of the ball that wasn’t getting called. And can someone please explain to me why LSU’s Marcus Randall was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct while Texas escaped with no penalties on the play? The play in question was this: LSU hikes the ball, but the play is whistled dead for a false start. Yet the Longhorns continue the attack, Randall getting hit three separate times. Randall is just trying to back away, knowing the play is dead, but keeps getting hit. He throws down the ball in frustration, and takes the penalty. Why didn’t UT get hit with unsportsmanlike conduct or personal fouls? Randall obviously heard the whistle; why couldn’t they? LSU did answer with a 44-yard run by Domanick Davis for a first down. :)
All in all, the Tigers have no one but themselves to blame for the snapping of their five-game bowl-winning streak (an NCAA record, tied with Miami and North Carolina). Hopefully, coach Nick Saban will stick around to shape the Tigers up for another run at the SEC championship and a shot at a national title (rumors of NFL courtship abound). The weather was fantastic, and we had great seats on the LSU 40 (thanks Terry and Wells Fargo!). The Texas fans weren’t overly obnoxious, and the ones around us were pleasant to talk football with. The Tiger band kicked the Longhorn band’s collective butt both in the stands and on the field at halftime. It was the first time we had been to a college bowl of any kind, and it was made all the sweeter by watching our alma mater play, even if they did lose. Photos are forthcoming. We had a great time.
iUpdates
Apple announced iCal 1.0.1 and final release of iSync 1.0 today. Each requires Mac OS X 10.2.2.
Cotton Bowl bound
Yeah, I know the blog’s been quiet the past few days. Since I was unable to get any time off on the days before or after Christmas Day, we had to do the Christmas thing with our families this weekend. Once again, I’m reminded how much dial-up sucks and how thankful I am to have broadband. Dial-up browsers are one of the reasons I try to keep this site on the low-bandwidth side.
As stated previously, we’re going to the Cotton Bowl tomorrow morning (11 am EST/8 am PST on Fox). I think the Longhorns are primed for an upset, as no one seems to be taking LSU seriously, especially Longhorn fans. LSU sold out of its allotment of tickets the day they were put on sale. The Cotton Bowl sold a considerable amount of its tix allotment to Tiger fans even before LSU was confirmed as one of the teams playing! The Cotton Bowl even took some of the Texas allotment back, because the Longhorn faithful just weren’t buying, and gave them to LSU to sell, which they did, all on the day they went on sale. There’s going to be a hell of a lot of purple and gold in Dallas tomorrow. Geaux Tigers!
Preloaded
Blog Entry of the Day has to go to Panic's Steven Frank. Steven's commentary is just as funny as the item being commented on.
LSU vs Ole Miss, 11/23/02
Thanks to a generous neighbor, Kelly & I, along with our friends and fellow alumni, Drew & Melanie, got to go to the last LSU home game of 2002. The Tigers played the Ole Miss Rebels, and had something of a tough time until about midway through the second half, when the defense finally figured out Eli Manning and the Rebel offense. Of course, I took some pictures. We have tickets to the Cotton Bowl on January 1 to see the Tigers upset the Texas Longhorns! Geaux Tigers!!
All along the watchtower
“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” —John Adams
“A group of people may have rights, but it is their responsibility, and theirs alone, to defend or safeguard such rights.” —Murray N. Rothbard
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior, who died for the sins of the world.
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.“And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” —Luke 2:1-14
"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its Mighty Founder was a child Himself." —Charles Dickens
"May the Father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy." —George Washington
"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this [Independence] day? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior?" —John Quincy Adams
"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place, preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister, he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing—the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived—all put together. How do we explain that? …Unless he really was what he said he was.” —Ronald Reagan
Merry Christmas, one and all!
Microsoft to acquire Macromedia?
Yes, that Macromedia. Of FreeHand, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and most of all, Flash, fame. Does Microsoft plan to kill Java through this acquisition? The monopoly rears its ugly head yet once again. . . (from Lee)
Santa uses a Mac!
www.santaclaus.com UPDATE (12/26/02): In case you are seeing this link after December 25th, the above link used to redirect back to Apple's Santa Switch ads. Now the link is back to its regular page. Santa still uses the easiest, most powerful personal computer on the planet, though. On Dasher, on Comet, on Macintosh. . . ! (Thanks, Lee!)
Protect Fair Use
A new site has appeared, protectfairuse.org. I encourage you to check it out. They make it easy for you to email and print letters to send to your Congresscritters regarding protection of your fair use rights.
OS X fresh meat
Open source software site, Freshmeat has opened a new section devoted exclusively to OS X.
Happy Belated Birthday, bro
Dan turned 30 yesterday. Welcome to the ranks of the thirtysomethings, amigo. :)
The One True Quoting Style
Michael calls it on Chris Hanson's observation. Take note, emailers of the world. At work, I am forced to use Entourage as my Exchange client under OS X. One thing that is nice about Entourage is the preference that lets you turn off the formatted, Outlook/Exchange-type email that includes HTML, and have plain-text, Internet email, complete with quotes. It's not pure text; HTML mail still gets through, but it offers me enough of the plain-text, Internet email experience that I feel like I'm using a real email client.
Safer in Afghanistan than in Montgomery
Exercising the Second Amendment right he defends every day through his service, Marine Sergeant James Lowery shot and killed a would-be carjacker last Thursday, after being wounded himself. Sergeant Lowery is in fair condition, and will rejoin his unit, an aerial tanker squardon, upon his release from the hospital.