“Triumphant in their kill of the elephant chew toy, feline and canine shared bedding in front of a warm fire, and there was peace throughout the land…”
Month: January 2003
“Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance–not even today–of the disarmament which is demanded of it and which it needs to carry out to the confidence of the world and to live in peace.”
From the Washington Post:
Blix sharply criticized Iraq for failing to make scientists available for private interviews; blocking U-2 aerial overflights and refusing to provide a complete declaration of its weapons of mass destruction. “It is not enough to open doors,” Blix told the council. “Inspection is not a game of “catch as catch can,” he said.
“It is a process of verification for the purpose of creating confidence. It is not built on the premise of trust. Rather, it is designed to lead to trust.”
Of course, the French and Russians would have us “give the inspectors more time,” so much more time, in fact, that military action against Saddam’s regime would be that much harder than it is now. I wonder what kind of per-barrel deals Hussein is working out with Chirac and Putin.
John D. Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to the U.N. Security Council:
“There is little time left for the council to face its responsibilities. We see no evidence to indicate that Saddam is voluntarily disarming his nations of its biological, chemical weapons, nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles.”
So ruck up, U.S. servicemen and women. Your CIC will no doubt be calling upon you soon. Kick butt, make us proud, and may God protect you and yours.
Apple released new desktops today. Processors ramp up to 1.42 GHz in the high-end model, as well as a new 4x SuperDrive. Like the PowerBooks released at Macworld Expo earlier this month, the new Power Macs either incorporate or are ready for the latest tech: FireWire 800, Bluetooth, and Airport Extreme.
Apple also dropped the price on its 17- and 23-inch LCDs, to $699 and $1,999 respectively, and introduced a new, 20-inch LCD for $1,299.
Speaking of Mac browsers, Opera’s Jon von Tetzchner whined to CNET about competing with Safari, and losing out on providing the Opera engine to Apple, which chose KHTML to drive Safari instead.
Fellow ATPM staffer Chris Lawson brought the article to our attention, and several interesting comments have been raised, which reflect my own feelings:
Lawson: “…because it sucks and is two versions behind the Windoze version and you keep trying to charge $40 for it. It would be one thing if it were a really fast, slick browser, but it’s not.
“Then again, maybe I’m still bitter about the fact that they announced a Mac browser in 1996 ‘in a few weeks’ and didn’t deliver until late 2001…”
Michael: “I’m more distressed that anyone would print a story like this without checking the facts (like whether Mac Opera is any good). It’s irresponsible of CNet to act as von Tetzchner’s mouthpiece.”
Michael also rightly points out that there is nothing stopping Opera from using open-source alternatives, as Apple chose to do by using KHTML. Michael points to Chuq Von Rospach’s rockin’ analysis, as well as the dead-on commentary from Eric Albert.
So Mr. von Tetzchner, let’s run the down the Mac browser market, shall we?
- Microsoft Internet Explorer, free
- Netscape, free
- Mozilla, free
- Camino
Chimera (Navigator), a Mozilla branch, free - OmniWeb, free trial, $29.95
- iCab, free or $29 for a “Pro” version
- Opera, $39
Quite simply, people do not expect to have to pay for a web browser any more. Just ask Netscape, and thank Microsoft for it. I know there are many people, myself included, who would pay for a wicked fast, slick-looking, web standards-compliant browser. Unfortunately for Opera, their product isn’t any of those things on the Mac. Like Eric says in his post, the Omni Group still believes there’s a market for a commercial browser; why doesn’t Opera?
I’m very happy with Safari, even in its beta form, and I have Camino Chimera to fall back on, and worse case, IE. If Opera wants to plow the same kind of development into their Mac product that they do for Windows, I’ll sit up and take notice. If instead, Opera wants to leave the Mac market, no tears will be shed here.
Bob Levitus, a.k.a., Dr. Mac, thinks it just may be:
“Safari is wicked fast, with a clean, uncluttered interface and a feature I love–a special field in its toolbar that lets you search the Web via Google without going to the Google Web page first.
“I’ve been using Safari for several weeks, and even though it’s still in beta, it has become my browser of choice. It is much faster than the others, and it may very well be the best browser ever created. Not bad for a program that’s not even done yet.”
In a possible Stanley Cup Finals preview, the current best team in the West took on the current best team in the East (and the league). The Stars trailed most of the game, scored 2 goals in 41 seconds to tie in the 2d, then watched the Sens’ Martin Havlat notch a hat trick with his 3d of the evening just moments later.
The Stars didn’t knuckle under, however, coming back to tie it at 3 all, and Bill Guerin put Dallas up with 5:24 left in the 3d. With 30-something seconds left, Modano added an empty netter to seal the deal. Dallas is now 11-1-3 in their last 15 as the race for playoff position slowly begins to heat up. The Stars are now within one point of Ottawa in the President’s Trophy race.
Horrendous officiating, especially by the linesmen, on both sides of the puck. What else is new in today’s Mr. Magoo NHL?
Great game, and if both teams survive through the playoffs, what a Stanley Cup series this is going to be.
Once upon a time, there was a young woman who was about to finish her last year of college. She considered herself a very liberal Democrat, and her father was a rather staunch conservative. One day, she was challenging her father on his beliefs, and his opposition to programs like welfare. He stopped her and asked how she was doing in school.
She answered she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time, never had time to go out and party, and often went sleepless because of all of the studying. She didn’t have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because of all her studying.
He then asked how her friend Mary, who was attending the same college, was doing. She replied that Mary was barely getting by. Mary had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, was very popular on campus, and was at parties all the time. She often wouldn’t show up for classes because she was hung over.
He then asked his daughter why didn’t she go to the Dean’s Office and ask if she could take 1.0 off her 4.0 and give it to her friend that only had a 2.0. That way, they would both have a 3.0 GPA.
She fired back, “That wouldn’t be fair, I worked really hard for mine and my friend has done nothing.” After a moment of silence, she replied, “I guess I will never vote Democrat again.”
(Thanks, FranX!)
Lee’s blogging! Welcome to the weird and wacky world of the blog, bro. 🙂
So I decided to drag my butt out of bed at 6 am Saturday morning to join a friend for the opening of the new Apple Store on Knox Street in Dallas. This is the Dallas area’s second Apple Store, the first being in Plano at Willow Bend.
My pal Michael, and two of his friends, had already arrived at the store by the time I got out of bed, but were kind enough to save a spot for yours truly, who rolled up at 20 after 8. 🙂
Though I failed to capture the moment on camera, Michael was the first official customer of the Knox Street store, as he picked up a software title for his wife. I did take lots of other photos.
UPDATE (10:45 am): Michael emailed me links to a gallery that features his first purchase, as well as a shot of yours truly checking out the 12″ PowerBook G4. A second gallery shows us waiting out front, though my back’s turned, and an open doorway shot of me, in profile, waiting to look at the 12″ PowerBook G4. (Hint, I’m wearing a dark LSU cap and brown jacket.)
From Uday Hussein, Saddam’s son, according to a Reuters article:
“It is better for the Americans to keep themselves away from us. Because if they come then September 11–which they are crying over and see as a big thing–will be a real picnic for them, God willing. They will be hurt and pay a price they will never imagine.”
Gee, Uday, give us yet more reasons through your posturing to cap your sorry butt.
And I love how the Husseins run around invoking the name of God, or in their case, Allah. Saddam’s Ba’ath party has always been a secular party, and Saddam is well known for gassing Shi’ite Muslims within Iraq’s borders, not to mention the Muslim Kurds in his nation’s northern territories.