Remember

It says a lot about our nation in that too few of us think about those who have given their lives in military service, much less participate in events to commemorate them, on Memorial Day. This was what ran through my head as we drove the Maine coastline today, noting the hundreds, perhaps thousands, on the beaches of York.
To honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, I humbly offer these words from one of our greatest Presidents:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
[With thanks to KnowledgeNews for the text of the Gettysburg Address.]

Earthquake relief

World Vision is one of many non-government organizations (NGOs) providing emergency
survival kits in Indonesia, as a result of the recent earthquake there. World Vision’s kits include blankets, temporary shelter, medicine and clothing. If you’re seeking to help out with relief efforts there, please consider a donation to World Vision.

Miscellany

Leave it to a bunch of Brits to play football with automobiles. In this case, a small fleet of Toyota’s Aygos. There was plenty of rubbin’ going on, and as we all know, “Rubbin’s racin’.
[Via Autoblog, video requires Windows Media Player.]

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When you go to see X3, sit through the credits.

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It is amazingly quiet in my study when my wife’s Windows PC is powered off. My iMac Core Duo, PowerBook, external hard drive, and HP OfficeJet AIO (when it’s not actually printing) are all near-silent.
When I walked in a moment ago, and registered the quiet, being so used to the fans of the PC, I had a momentary thought of “What’s wrong?”

The psychology of milk

My bride and I have noticed a quirk of psychology regarding the consumption of milk in our abode. Based on the recommendation of friends a couple of years ago, we prefer Horizon Organic milk, and originally bought it in half-gallon cartons, since this seemed to be the largest size the stores that carried the brand would stock.
At some point, gallon sizes appeared, and we began purchasing the larger size. This is when the quirk began:
We drank less milk when we had the gallon container than when we had two half-gallon containers.
I’m still trying to figure out why this is so. As a result of our not drinking as much milk, we found ourselves reaching and going beyond the expiration dates on the gallon-sized milk, something we’d never done with the half-gallon containers. (It should be noted that milk in cartons often have farther-out expiration dates than milk in semi-transparent jugs.)
Switching back to half-gallon containers, we’re back to drinking more milk than when we purchased the gallon sizes. I’m somewhat baffled.
Amateur shrinks, have at it.

Miscellany

The iPatch.

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This likely has made its rounds through the blogosphere already, but I just read in the latest dead-tree edition of Wired that Choose Your Own Adventure books are getting republished, updated for the 21st century.
Though he’s not old enough yet to read on his own and appreciate them, I may have to pick up these titles for my little phisch. I had a great time with them when I was eleven, though I don’t believe I was ever able to successfully navigate The Abominable Snowman without “cheating”.

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What happened to all that wreckage from the Twin Towers after 9/11? Twenty-four tons of steel girders ended up in one of the Navy’s latest ships.

Miscellany

Good tip, courtesy of TUAW, on pairing your Apple Remote with its intended system. Very useful in a mutliple Apple-Remote-Mac home. I went ahead and paired my iMac with its remote, even though it’s the only such capable Mac we have. You never know what might be around the corner.

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42 Climbers Reach Summit of Mount Everest. Note to self: “May is considered the best month to climb Everest. Climbers in Nepal have to complete their mission by May 31 before the weather deteriorates during monsoon season.”

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“Elvis impersonators can relax: No one’s coming after their bespangled jumpsuits.”
Damn.

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This story is encouraging me to let the little phisch have a cheap point-and-shoot digital in a few months. He loved using a Fujifilm disposable camera a couple of months back, and even framed a shot or two pretty well.

Listening to 300 years of history

A new auction record was set yesterday when a 300 year-old Stradivarius violin was sold for $3.54 million. The former owner loaned the instrument out to violinists, and it sounds as if the new owner will continue to do the same. Someone sign me up for those concerts.

More miscellany

Lee’s a bit hot under the collar over Skype’s new, supposedly free, SkypeOut plan, and understandably so. I’m not sure I get Skype’s argument; I thought the whole point of their service was to be location free, to the extent of remaining within the borders of the U.S.

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Something tells me my sister would really dig these lamps.
[Wave of the phin to Firewheel Design.]

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Congratulations to Aram Kudurshian, developer of High Priority, who has accepted a developer position with Apple.

Miscellany

As is so often the case with video or film, the music totally makes the FedEx pilots drive around thunderstorm short film.

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I sincerely hope JPMorgan Chase & Co. realize they just flushed $150 million.

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This may have been posited elsewhere, but I think when the Power Mac G5 replacement ships, it will simply be called “Mac Pro”. You have the Pro designation separating the portable models, and they’re not going to call a tower/desktop without a built-in monitor “iMac Pro”. Apple will still want to differentiate the line from the consumer series, so it will just be Mac Pro.

MacBook

So it’s all over the Mac blogosphere and online news world: the iBook replacement has been released, and as many reckoned, it is simply called MacBook.
Available in the snow white we’ve all come to know and love, as well as in black-is-the-new-black black, the new MacBook features either a 1.83 or 2 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, up to 2 GB of RAM, starts with an 60 GB hard drive, going up to 120 GB, comes with the same MagSafe power adapter as the MacBook Pro, has a 13.3-inch screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution, and can be had with either a Combo optical drive, or the DVD-burning SuperDrive. The new MacBook has a built-in iSight, and features integrated Intel graphics which shares the system’s main memory, a deal-killer for me personally.
To the joy of a lot of Mac users, Apple has now released all of its products from mirroring-only on an external monitor, as the MacBook joins the Intel-based iMac in supporting extended desktop on an external display. The MacBook can drive up to a 23-inch display through it’s Mini-DVI port, which requires an adapter for full DVI or VGA compatibility. One FireWire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Airport Extreme, and built-in Bluetooth round out the package. Just as with the MacBook Pro and iMac, a modem is now optional, external, and costs $49.
It should be noted that the black MacBook is only available with the 2 GHz Core Duo, and features a $200 markup over its white brethren; this gets you a baseline 80 GB hard drive instead of a 60 GB model. Otherwise, you’re paying extra for the alternative color. Still, I believe Apple is going to sell a ton of both, and will be hard pressed to keep black models in stock. Time will tell if the black cases are as susceptible to scratching as their similarly-colored iPod cousins.
I’d love a black MacBook in the future, but I have a problem with integrated graphics and their sharing of the system memory. It may be an irrational dislike, but it keeps my eye on the 15-inch MacBook Pro, with hope that the new MacBook signals a 13.3-inch version in the Pro series.