Jeff Harrell, on his recent move to the DC area:
They have Chick-fil-a here, which is good. But the sandwiches are like three bucks each or something equally absurd. I mean, I knew Texas was the land of milk and honey where the streets are paved with gold. I didn’t realize that it was also the land of cheap chicken sandwiches. Apparently it’s both.
I have this theory that there is an ineffable quality to certain attractive consumer products, and I can only term it niceness. It’s the MSG of consumerism - you don’t know what it tastes like by itself but you know when it’s present and you know when it’s not.
[…]
It’s somewhere in the confluence of size, shape, materials, texture and that pleasant weightiness that lesser products don’t have. I said it was the MSG of consumerism. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t more like consumerism’s crack cocaine. Jonathan Ive is my dealer.
Command-Tab switches between applications.
Command-tick (`) switches between windows within an application.
Option-Tab, via Witch, switches between windows and applications.
Welch wants one, but I think if that thing was in my house, it would end up in pieces once I hunted it down.
My favorite spam-killing application has been updated, and now kills spam better than ever. Michael has been rocking on SpamSieve’s efficiency with each update; I see very, very few false negatives, and no false positives with the app.
One updated feature which should be noted is the improved phish detection. That’s phish, not phisch, got it? We phisch are more sneaky…
Rob Griffiths has an excellent piece on Macworld regarding the Leap-A malware which could infect your Tiger-based Mac, if, well, if you’re either not paying attention or are just stupid. Mark Allan has what should be the obvious, common-sense approach to not getting infected:
- Are somehow sent (via email, iChat, etc.) or download the “latestpics.tgz” file
- Double-click on the file to decompress it
- Double-click on the resulting file to “open” it
…and even then, most users must also enter their Admin password.
You cannot simply “catch” the virus. Even if someone does send you the “latestpics.tgz” file, you cannot be infected unless you decompress the file, and then open it.
Mark Allan is seeking a Mac developer with an Intel Mac to help with an update to ClamXav so it will run on the the new Intel-based Macintosh systems.
The one utility it seems I cannot live without on my new iMac Core Duo is James Walker’s AutoPairs. A preference pane, AutoPairs will not run on an Intel Mac. I contacted James, and he doesn’t have access to an Intel Mac to do further development and testing. I’ve offered my services as a tester, but if any developers with Intel Macs would like to give James a hand, please contact him.
(From a totally selfish standpoint, if anyone knows of a replacement for AutoPairs that works on Intel Macs, drop me a note.)
When I was in seventh grade, I began computer programming classes. First it was BASIC, on Radio Shack TRS-80 systems (affectionately known as “Trash-80s”). Then it was more BASIC and Turbo Pascal on Apple II computers. Lemonade Stand was a game, along with Oregon Trail, we spent our free time at the end of class goofing around with.
When my parents bought a used Apple IIe from one of my high school teachers, Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail came with it, and much joy was had playing them again, as well as in seeing my younger sister happily plugging along on them. Now, Lemonade Stand is back, and ported to Mac OS X.
[Via Erik.]
One of things you have to love about Benjamin Franklin was his optimism with regard to those who hold public office.
They are of the People, and return again to mix with the People, having no more durable preeminence than the different Grains of Sand in an Hourglass. Such an Assembly cannot easily become dangerous to Liberty. They are the Servants of the People, sent together to do the People’s Business, and promote the public Welfare; their Powers must be sufficient, or their Duties cannot be performed. They have no profitable Appointments, but a mere Payment of daily Wages, such as are scarcely equivalent to their Expences; so that, having no Chance for great Places, and enormous Salaries or Pensions, as in some Countries, there is no triguing or bribing for Elections.
—letter to George Whatley, 23 May 1785
Reference: Franklin Collected Works, Lemay, ed., 1108.
[Via the Patriot Post.]
Camino, which is fast becoming my favorite browser, has finally been officially released.
The RSS auto-detect feature, a la Safari, is what is keeping me from completely switching from Apple’s browser.
[Via Chris.]
I received an e-mail notification from the Apple Store just after midnight this morning. It told me they had transmitted the shipping info to FedEx for the pickup of the iMac Core Duo I had ordered.
At 1:53 PM local time, the iMac was picked up in Shanghai. Thanks to the beauty of the International Date Line, it arrived in Anchorage (that’s Alaska, for the geographically ignorant) at 11:54 AM local time, the same day. It has subsequently departed Anchorage as of 1:13 PM local time, and should arrive here on Friday. Yay!
I was actually kind of surprised by the number of applications listed at Open Source Mac I use. I suppose on some level, they are elegant enough that I don’t think of them any differently than the commercial software I use.
“Khaos” has released a derivative piece of art, titled “Forsaken Soul”, based on a landscape photo I took on the Big Island of an old lava flow.
A conversation I had with my two year-old son, on our way down the stairs yesterday afternoon, post-nap. (His, not mine.) I’m the one asking the questions.
“Are you poopy?”
“No.”
“Are you peepee?”
“No.”
“Do I need to change your diaper?”
“No.”
“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
[Silence.]
Presidents’ Day, this year on February 20th, has taken on an even more special meaning for me lately. Not only does it serve as the official holiday commemorating both the birthdays of George Washington (February 22d) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12th), but I’ve personally added another great American president to that illustrious list, Ronald Reagan. He would have been 95 today.
Today marks the fifty-sixth anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s 39th birthday, as he would note it. Recently, the Gallup Poll asked Americans “Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?” and “Ronald Reagan” topped the list. This man of simple origins, a giant of a president, always and unfalteringly did what was right for America. He brought trust, dignity, and humility to the presidency. He was, as William Bennett once observed, “A man in possession of his own soul,” and he restored the nation’s values, its character, its soul. He was a gentleman and a Patriot. We, in turn, will always be indebted to Ronald Reagan, a mentor to our key staff, for his unselfish and devoted service to our country.
My observations on the commercials shown during the Super Bowl. My top five are at the bottom.
I’ve moved the entire work below the break.
5:33 PM CST
I can’t believe Burger King wasted two million dollars (or whatever obnoxious amount the spots are going for this year) on the “Whopperettes”.
5:40 PM CST (That was a short four downs, Steelers.)
The “Magic Fridge” Bud commercial had me cracking up.
5:43 PM CST
Living in Texas, I get Spanish shoved down my throat enough, thanks, Toyota.
I liked the FedEx “Caveman” commercial. Something very Dilbertian about it.
Regarding it and the Bud Light “Bear attack” commercial, my wife ponders “Why do people think people getting killed or mauled is funny?”
5:51 PM CST
The Diet Pepsi-“Diddy” commercial left me flat. Nice use of an iPod, though.
5:58 PM CST
The Ameriquest “That killed’em” commercial is hysterical.
6:05 PM CST
The Diet Pepsi-Jackie Chan “Stunt double” commercial is genius.
SBC-AT&T, ho-hum. Can we work on upgrading the Cingular network instead of flushing money down the Super Bowl bowl?
6:12 PM CST
You would expect there to be a Budweiser Clydesdale football game commerical. You weren’t expecting the “Streaker”, were you?
Mobile ESPN: I like my sports, but…
6:17 PM CST
The CareerBuilder.com monkey commercials are soooo played.
Cadillac’s Escalade coming up through the model runway is a cool effect, but otherwise a yawner.
6:19 PM CST
They are looking for any excuse to go to commercial, aren’t they?
Tom Cruise attempts to get you to donate more money to Scientology with the third installment of the Mission Impossible movie franchise.
I think it speaks highly of Dove that they spent their Super Bowl money on the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.
6:25 M CST
Further proof Disney has run out of creative ideas: let’s remake The Shaggy Dog with Tim Allen.
Ford scores big with Kermit the Frog and “It Ain’t Easy Being Green” for the new Escape Hybrid. (Take note, Toyota.)
The Michelob Ultra “Touch Football” commercial doesn’t score.
6:35 PM CST
I’ve already seen GoDaddy’s commercial, and it’s certainly the least risque thing they’ve run to date. (Only because this was the fourteenth cut of the commercial, and the network finally allowed it.)
6:38 PM CST
Further proof all of Hollywood has run of original ideas: let’s remake The Poseidon Adventure and shorten the title.
In case you couldn’t figure out that Gilette was releasing a five-blade shaver with all the teasers they’ve been airing the past two weeks, they actually show you the razor this go-around.
The extended Desperate Housewives plug with Shaq, Hawk, Sugar Ray (the boxer, younglings, not the band), and Hef brought a smile.
6:42 PM CST
A typical Overstock.com commercial.
6:44 PM CST
Good call, bringing in Kelsey Grammar to voice the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary commercial.
6:55 PM CST
I was wondering what the Sprint “Crime Deterrent” was going to be. That got a smile out of me.
I thought the NFL Network’s Super Bowl “Today we’re all unified” commercial was appropriately touching.
Nothing new with Nissan’s Xterra commercial. More bragging over the Motor Trend award.
BREAK, BREAK. HALF TIME SHOW.
The Rolling Stones may have been a “safe” choice, but they sound like crap. What a shocker they open with “Start Me Up”, the most recognized Stones song to the modern generation, thanks to Microsoft. Another thought: are the Stones heavy investors in those cryogenic businesses out in Arizona?
Maybe next year the network and league can come up with some entertainment that’s not putting out music no one listens to and has to rely on its thirty-plus year-old hits and brainless fans who show up tour after tour to shell out money to hear the same songs over and over.
7:20 PM CST
The Ford Mustang commercial you’ve been seeing for…well, quite awhile.
Typical cute commercial from Jack-in-the-Box.
One of the Nissan Titan “Work Truck” commercials featuring the theme from Stripes.
Is your local news channel putting out commercials like our ABC affiliate, touting their news team?
7:25 PM CST
The Disney commercials with the Seattle and Pittsburgh players practicing “I’m going to Disneyland!” is genius.
7:34 PM CST
I thought the time lapse of the meteor rock was pretty cool. Didn’t think it would result in a mobile phone being deposited on a beach.
7:42 PM CST
Budweiser’s “I won’t tell if you won’t” commercial with the pony “pulling” the beer wagon is cute.
Nationwide’s “Fabio shampoo” commercial starts off kind of funny, then gets creepy.
I liked the “Old Days” NFL Mobile commercial. “We ate non-organic foods and had to use the Internet!”
7:49 PM CST
Like most Hummer commercials, the “Love is Strange” one for the H3, featuring the giant robot and Godzilla clone having a “baby” just struck me as kind of, well, stupid.
The PS cleaning solutions commercial with everyone in biohazard suits was cute.
7:54 PM CST
I didn’t see it coming in CareerBuilder’s “That’s okay, I work with a bunch of jackasses.” That brought a chuckle.
The latest in Taco Bell’s “Good to Go” series for the Crunchwrap Supreme, featuring geek love. She’s pretty cute; ever since my love and I both started wearing spectacles, I’m noticing more cute chicks with them.
8:01 PM CST
Toyota is 0-2, this time with one of their “indestructible” truck commercials. The commercials shows a Tacoma, via time-lapse photography/video surveillance, getting bounced around by ocean waves while the owner is out kayaking or surfing, or something. Note to Toyota: try making a truck that doesn’t look effeminate, then we’ll talk about how tough they are.
8:14 PM CST
Another Sprint commercial, on music downloads to your phone, with a burning couch.
Nice usage of the sideline hash marks as sound levels in ESPN’s Monday Night Football spot.
Here in DFW, we got a Dodge MegaCab truck commercial, and an American Airlines spot featuring a guy packing for his wife so he can take her on a surprise dinner trip out of town.
Ho-hum spot for the Acura RL.
8:23 PM CST
Degree’s spot highlights a stunt man in various every day situations taken to the extreme.
I’ve never found the Emerald’s Nuts commercials very funny, and the “Druid under the stairs” one doesn’t so anything to change that.
The Fidelity-Paul McCartney spot you’ve seen numerous times before.
8:29 PM CST
Totally computer-generated, of course, but the Bud commercial that purports to show fans in a stadium with those flip signs pouring beer from a bottle to a glass is decent.
The MasterCard-MacGuyver spot is the best of the night.
8:34 PM CST
Another Mobile ESPN spot.
Nice Honda Ridgeline commercial featuring mud flap characters, who have “been around trucks for a long time”.
Here’s to Beer offers “Cheers” in multiple languages.
8:40 PM CST
Great spot for the World Baseball Classic.
The GoDaddy spot airs again.
The ESPN Monday Night Football spot airs again.
Commerical for the new Ford Explorer. (Was this a DFW/Texas-only spot?)
8:53 PM CST
Spot for the movie Running Scared.
Outback Steakhouse commercial with a guy speaking in an Australian accent trying to pry a boomerang off the wall. The whole schtick is “coming back”.
Spot from the Westin hotel chain, announcing they’re going all non-smoking.
Pro Bowl spot that I didn’t really get.
Game Over
I consider these spots shown immediately after the conclusion of the game to be the last Super Bowl commercials of the night.
Blockbuster lets everyone in the nation know they’re going after Netflix.
The same TGIFriday’s you’ve seen for the past few weeks, what appears to be a new All State insurance spot, and the same Expedia.com “Calendar” commercial they’ve been showing lately.
Top Five
These are my favorite commercials from tonight.
Three and a half hours of pre-game coverage wasn’t enough time to get through all of the crap leading up to this game that you had to waste the first ten minutes of the “official” start of game coverage with the introduction of the MVPs from the previous thirty-nine Super Bowls?
Regarding the National Anthem: why do great singers feel compelled to remind us they’re great singers when they get up to sing “The Star Spangled Banner”? (I’m looking at you, Mr. Neville.) Just sing the song and show it some respect. (Side note to ABC and the NFL: you’re having a big enough spectacle at half time. There’s no need to make our National Anthem one, too.)
Did the Seattle Seahawks pick “Bittersweet Symphony” as the song to play when they were introduced? Dudes. Bad song to pick for a football game for the name alone. Bad song to pick for a football game for the music. (And I like the song.)
Then again, at least I recognized “Bittersweet Symphony”. The same cannot be said for the song which played when the Steelers were introduced.
Though the Steelers are the “road” team, they certainly appear to be the fans-in-the-stands favorite. Not surprising, given Detroit homeboy Jerome Bettis leading Pittsburgh on to the field.
Something struck me a few minutes ago: does anyone live in the middle of Missouri? The two most populous cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, are on the eastern and western edges of the state, respectively. You never hear about any other place in the Show Me State, except for Springfield.
Given my personal experience working for Verizon, and continuously hearing stories from my friends who are still employed there, this rings so true.
Could NBC not steal away better talent from ESPN for calling hockey games it chooses to nationally televise? Gary Thorne is apparently still locked in to a contract with ESPN/ABC, having spent last year calling college football games (and doing a damn fine job, if you ask me; Thorne just has a sports announcer’s voice through and through).
Big surprise that Bill Clement, formerly Thorne’s useless and biased color man, is now uselessly and biasedly anchoring NBC’s hockey network desk with Ray Ferraro. (Very manly of you guys to be out on the ice in Rockefeller Plaza, sticks in hand, while the peewee team pokes pucks around the rink behind you. This is what is known in the vernacular as a cliché. You’d think you Canadians would know a little French.)
So in DFW today we are, of course, getting the Stars-Blues game out of St. Louis. Chris Cuthbert and Peter McNab have zero chemistry. Most of the time, it sounds like McNab’s mouth is engaging before his brain. (Taking lessons from Clement, Peter?) Cuthbert sounds like he’s about to start hyperventilating any second during the game call. The only redeeming quality of this broadcast crew is Cammi Granato, stuck with the stupidly named “Inside the Glass” position. One improvement with this threesome would be to eliminate McNab and put Granato in his place. I’m not sure where Cuthbert came from, but he needs to go back to being the local team announcer there.
You might be wondering why I’m so snarky on this admittedly minor issue. First, when it comes to hockey announcers, we’re pretty spoiled here in Dallas. Ralph Strangis and Daryl Reaugh are one of the best broadcast teams in any sport. (Many of us are still hoping Daryl comes to his senses and gets a hair cut.)
Second, being a hockey fan, I want to see the sport win more fans, and one area this is going to happen in will be nationally televised games. (Few and far between those may have been these past few years. Great job with those television contracts, post-Fox Sports, Commissioner Bettman.) So if a nationally-televised game is part of your new fan-winning strategy, you better make sure the network you’ve given the goods to can deliver with top-notch broadcast crews. Those currently employed by NBC are barely living up to the term “mediocre”.
Like I’m sure many of you do when your home team is being nationally televised, I normally mute the television and flip on the radio, putting up with the satellite delay to hear my local announcers call the game. I tried to give the NBC crew an honest shot today, but they’re falling far short. Back to WBAP to hear Ralph and Razor call the last five minutes of the game.
Dell has discontinued its sale of hard drive-baesd MP3 players.
Someone should make a list of all the pundits and tech columnists who, back in October 2003 when Dell first introduced the DJ, predicted that it was the beginning of the end for the iPod.
If you find yourself wishing you could have your very own online calendar to sync with iCal, but
then Tom can help you out with his new calendar hosting service. Just be sure to tell him the Retrophisch™ sent you.
Please note: You’re not allowed to call yourselves followers of a “religion of peace” if you riot and make death threats over a political cartoon.
[…]
A lot of people decry such statements, saying that this is the actions of some muslims, but not most of them. I’m still waiting for the major leaders of Islam to rise up and denounce such violence. Until that starts happening on a regular basis, I have a hard time believing those arguments.
[Via Jeff.]
The 17-inch iMac G5 has been removed from the online Apple Store, leaving only the 20-inch G5 version. If you’re looking for a G5 iMac instead of the new Intel Core Duo version, now would appear to be the time to buy.
[Via Al W. on the MacJournals-Talk list.]
Update: John notes what I missed: the remaining 20-inch iMac G5s have been marked down $200, to $1,499. Apple is definitely clearing out last year’s model.
Since MacHome doesn’t post all of its magazine’s monthly content to the web, I’m archiving for my own use this hint from Editor at Large Chris McVeigh, found in the Q&A section of the February 2006 issue.
You can however print an entire day’s schedule, complete with any notes you may have added to the event. Choose View > Go to Date and enter the date you want, or to see the current day’s events, choose View > Go to Today. Now choose View > Day View to see only that day. Finally, choose File > Print.
You’ll see a preview of the print job, which lists appointments along a timeline at the left and the details of these appointments in a separate column at the right. This is a bit awkward, though. In the Print window, choose View > List. You’ll see that the events are now listed one after another (there is no timeline) and include the event details. Click Continue and then click Print. In a few seconds you’ll have a printed copy of your appointments and notes.
William Blair was recently outed as the secret benefactor to a group of World War II Pacific Theater former POWs, who get together for a monthly breakfast at Bunny’s Restaurant in Suffolk, Virginia.
I’ve met a good number of WWII vets in my time, and a few of them were POWs. Mr. Blair is correct in his noting that the Pacific Theater POWs usually get little mention compared to their European Theater brethren. I had the privilege in college of meeting a group of former POWs, including a Bataan Death March survivor. Those men have borne heavy burdens, and still do to this day. Mr. Blair, we salute you for your generosity and patriotism.
The Free Market Foundation reminds Texans the deadline for voter registration in time for the March primaries is this Monday, February 6th. If you need to register:
As with every election, the Free Market Foundation is providing non-partisan Voters’ Guides free of charge. Send them an e-mail with your mailing address and desired quantity. I’ve taken advantage of these guides in the past, and they are great at distilling voting issues in to clear language, offering pros and cons for ballot propositions, as well as candidate information.
The February issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available.
Ellyn examines Google’s noncompliance of demands by the Justice Department, while Wes has the best of the Mac blogosphere’s reaction to last month’s Macworld Expo. Miraz Jordan, noting his enjoyment of podcasts, chimes in with this month’s Pod People. (We’re looking for readers to share their own iPod experiences. If you would like to write a Pod People column, please e-mail the editors.) Ted looks over two outliners new to the Macintosh sandbox. Speaking of sand, Angus Wong dives in to the waters of the Macintosh life and discovers on the sandy bottom the triumph of the Macintosh revolution.
This issue’s desktop pictures section features numerous reader submissions, ranging from flowers to Mount Baker, St. Louis to Thailand, New Hampshire to the Dominican Republic. Thanks to Torben, Bill, Jerry, Steven, and Grover for sharing!
In this month’s Cortland, Lisa makes peace with her maker, the other Steve steps in to foil plans of world dominance, Chad returns to the throne at Weiser Graphics, and Cortland decides the fringe benefits are worth going in-house again.
Ellyn fools around with Bubblomania, while Tom peers between the sheets of the Cult of iPod. Mark Tennent shares his experience with CyTV, and Chris tests the alliteratory Lapvantage Loft. Finally, Tom asks that if you’re going to delve deeply in to the guts of Mac OS X, you do so with a good manual at your side, kid.