Author Archives: brad

Hmmmm. BlogPoster appears to be working again. Not sure what was up. I can only assume it was something with Blogger, because I didn’t change anything on my end. Oh, well, at least it’s working now.

Tommorow I’m helping a friend (also my part-time employer) migrate her PowerBook G4 over to Mac OS X. She’s ready to make the jump. Of course, she’s been listening to me rant and rave about OS X since the release of 10.1. She owns a marketing and design firm, and she’s still deciding when to take her artists to OS X. Most of the tools are there now: Photoshop, Illustrator, and QuarkXPress. Oh, wait, Quark isn’t ready yet!!

Saw the first half of Office Space this week. Pretty funny movie so far. I’m watching the rest this weekend.

Just checking something.

Jen had her second surgery today and it went very well. She went in for the procedure at 1:05, and at 2:05, the doctor was out to tell me they were done. At 3:15, we were on the way home. The doctor found a little bit of scar tissue, but no more than he had expected, so she’s done for now. Hopefully this is the end of this chapter for us, which is a blessing. It’s been going on for two years now, and she hasn’t really felt well the whole time. Thanks to all of you for yours prayers and support. Now to get ready for Grace’s birthday party…

One year to the date after his untimely death, there is a documentary about Douglas Adams, one of my all time favorite authors. I had an opportunity to meet the late Mr. Adams at MacWorld New York in 1998, along with my friends Mike and Joe. He was autographing copies of the strategy for Starship Titanic, his latest video game release. We waited in line to meet him in person, but we weren’t really interested in the game, so we asked him to sign our original iMac posters (actually I think Joe did the actual asking). He looked at us rather strangely, but obliged. When I finally had the chance to tell him face to face how much his writing inspired me in my youth, all I could do was stand there like a blithering idiot, spouting off random syllables. Not words — syllables. It was humiliating. So at least one of my heroes died thinking that I’m a complete idiot.

Because of that experience, I don’t think I’ll ever try to meet Ray Davies, Joe Walsh, Paul Simon, Darren Clarke, Steve Jobs, Bruce Momjian, or any of the guys from Jars of Clay in person. Why risk it?

[By the way, Adams died on May 11, not May 12. I tried to post this last night but hit a few snags for some unknown reason.]

Mac OS X continues to rock. Current uptime on my Titanium: 10 days, sick 12 hours. Wow. I never had that with OS 9.

Dave added Google search to mammothconcepts.com this morning. I may add it to my template in the near future, but for now, if you need to search, feel free to use Dave’s page.

Steve Jobs: We are here to mourn the passing of Mac OS 9.

Mac OS 9 Resuscitated By Quick-Thinking Developers: It was kind of weird, but the OS’s whole life flashed before my eyes. I saw OS 6, MultiFinder, OpenDoc, Themes… I thought, ‘Good times. Good times.’

Vegan Couple Starved Toddler, Cops Say: Sixteen-month-old Ice Swinton weighed only 10 pounds, looked like a 2- or 3-month-old and was half the normal weight of a child her age when authorities discovered her close to death last November . . . The Swintons, who say they approach veganism as a religion, fed the child a diet of “ground nuts, fresh-squeezed fruit juices, herbal tea, beans, cod liver oil and flax seed oil,” a complaint said. This may very well be one of the saddest news stories I’ve ever read. This poor child has probably suffered damage that can never be repaired. These people need to be locked up and never allowed near their daughter again.

A Slashdot article on Microsoft’s Windows licensing policies for schools. Astonishingly, Microsoft wants schools to count every single computer they own when calculating the terms of the license, including all Macs, UNIX computers, and machines that will never, ever run Windows. My favorite quote, from Nick This: Anyway, the argument is flawed. You all realize this already. The argument should be that schools should be teaching how to solve problems using computers, and the tools that they use to solve them are inconsequential. It doesn’t matter whether you use a Bic pen or a Pilot pen… they are both just tools. So with software. But schools don’t get it. We should be teaching students to solve problems with computers, not how to make a three column brochure in Microsoft Publisher. Sadly, it will be a long, long time before many schools realize this.

And speaking of Slashdot and education, here’s another interesting article: P2P Programs on K-12 Networks? Oy! All about blocking peer-to-peer ports in a K12 environment. Apparently the guy asking the question is having a tough time because it’s the teachers doing all the downloading. General concensus from the posters: shut ’em down. Great quote from leonbrooks: You’re in the right. Act like it.

Here’s a ringing endorsement for Windows: He [Stuart Madnick, professor of information technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testifying on behalf of Microsoft] showed the judge a diagram that depicted Windows as a system made up of dozens of oddly shaped, interconnected pieces. Madnick said the diagram showed how Windows was like a “house of cards” that could collapse if any of the pieces were removed. Hey, that sounds like a recipe for stability and reliability, doesn’t it? “I’m sorry, you honor, our software is written too poorly for that sort of thing.”

I keep picking on Macintouch, but I keep reading it. Why? Because of “reader reports” like this one.

Okay. This is just weird.

help 3658, pharmacy s=2101&a=19482, doctor 00.asp”>Home Depot chills out.

The Joy of Tech: We have a saying around here . . . Imitation is the sincerest form of trademark infringement!

PythonCard for OS X. Hmmmmm.

Hmmmmm . . . a possible explanation for Dave passing out in my office a few weeks ago.

Apple’s new eMac, just for education. Awesome machine. My friend Joe thinks it’s butt-ugly, but I like it. My only complaint – no handle. Related Slashdot discussion is here.

Matt Groening, via FT.com: “I wear two hats,” he admits. “One is as the cranky cartoonist, but I also have to worry about a lot of people and be a manager and boost morale and all that stuff. I’m not particularly fond of the stuff which takes me away from the creative side.”

Jen and I are very seriously considering adoption. In vitro, while appealing, is awfully risky, especially given our finances (or lack thereof). Adoption, which is still expensive, has more than a fifty percent success rate. Plus there are so many kids out there who need homes. If I could afford it, I’d adopt them all. I know Jen would, too.