December 2004 Archives

So many, an unusual number, of my dear friends and co-workers have found 2004 to have presented many difficult challenges and heavy burdens.  I have been pondering 2004 and wondering what 2005 will hold for me, for my family, for all of those I love and about whom I deeply care, for my country, for my planet.

With the horrific tragedies of the last few days, unparalleled in my lifetime, with half of our country worried that our nation is rapidly going in the wrong direction, (the list could go on, but that's not my point) I find myself actually becoming pessimistic.  I have always had a soul deeply possessed with optimism and believing in the good that dwells in all people.

A dear friend reminded me of a wonderful piece of music I had let slip from my conscious thought.  You know, music pulses through my veins, so this was for me such a powerful affirmation of hope and goodness.  I must share it with all of my visitors to Tim's Reflection Connection.  Clicking on the radio below will actually play (stream) the song in iTunes or Real Player.  Celebrate hope for 2005 with me!

(For the next few days, clicking on the radio will actually play If I Want To)
Broadcast will be down periodically December 31 - January 2nd

Title:  If I Want To
Album:  Find It on the Wings
Words and Music by: Burt Bacharach and Will Jennings
Produced by: Phil Ramone
Artist: Sandi Patty
Text:  printed below

I see what people do.
I hear what people say.
I know there's trouble everywhere.
I see it every day.
Somethings won't get better.
Some people walk it through,
But I can dream of a better world,
If I want to.

If I want to imagine peace on every hand,
I close my eyes and dream my dreams.
In dreams I make a stand.
Anytime I start missing human harmony,
I listen hard until I hear the music inside me.
I can sing of a better world if I want to.
I can dream of a better world if I want to...
If I want to.

You walk down any street,
You don't know what you'll find.
Sometimes it takes me all I have,
To face a world unkind.
I won't give up trying.
I won't just let it go.
I still believe you can plan to dream,
If you want to.

If I want to imagine peace on every hand,
I close my eyes and dream my dreams.
In dreams I make a stand.
And anytime I start missing human harmony,
I listen hard until I hear the music inside me.
I can sing of a better world if I want to.
I can dream of a better world if I want to.

I listen hard until I hear the music inside me.
I can sing of a better world if I want to.
And I can dream of a better world if I want to.
I listen hard until I hear the music inside me.
I can sing of a better world if I want to.
I can dream of a better world if I want to...

And I want to!

Bruce has a cousin!

Another good friend of mine, in Florida, purchased his first Mac, the new iMac.  He is way into music and bought an iPod just over a year ago.  He loved it.  I kept telling him he would.  I kept telling him he would love a Mac, too.  Because his iPod  user experience was so fabulous, he bought his first Mac.

Tonight he told me that his iPod is happier now that it syncs up to iTunes on a Mac.  :o)  Well, of course!  The world needs happy iPods.

However, it was a difficult birth.  He didn't purchase his new iMac from Apple directly.  The store that ordered the machine for him goofed up.  He got a spanish keyboard and manuals! 

Since he didn't order from Apple or the Apple Store, he had to install the RAM upgrade himself.  Since he couldn't read the manuals on how to unscrew the case, he accidentally stripped the screws!  He had to take it in to the store for emergency surgery.

They replaced the panel under warranty since the store hadn't sent him the correct documentation.  Then, on top of all of this, the RAM chip the store sold him was bad and had to be replaced!  Goodness.

Finally, the new baby is happy, healthy, and at home.  I think my friend is going to name it Tim, after his uncle!!  :o)

It's fascinating that wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

So do wild animals really have a special, extra sense? Or have we as humans become so disconnected from our environment that we just can't perceive changes in the earth that are obvious to other species?

Source:  The Sixth Sense

I know most people who know me are well aware of my love for Apple.  Well, I went to the Apple store at Lenox Mall yesterday to try to figure out what to do about my poor dead G4--which was murdered in my own recent episode of Towering Inferno.  The store was overflowing with excited activity. 

I've seen the Apple Store really, really busy before, but never this busy.  People are catching on to what computing should be, can be, and actually IS with Apple--way cool, user-centric, stable, and beautiful.  Oh, and did I mention that, novel concept to Windows users, it just works, reliably and consistently. 

An aside...

One of my recent converts was always turning his new PowerBook off when he was done with it.  Annoyed, I asked him one day why he always did that.  He said “So it won't crash when it stays on too long.”  Oh the abuse suffered by poor Windows users!

Further conversation revealed that his Windows machine needed to be rebooted frequently so it wouldn't, at the worst possible time, lock up.  After much coercion, he has learned that he can put his new PowerBook to sleep, never turn it off, and that it will always be delighted to work just fine. 

He has told me several times how much he loves his new PowerBook.  He said that he could never imagine saying he “loved” any computer before, that they had always been a necessary evil he was forced to use.  He actually looks forward to doing things, fun things, on Bruce, his PowerBook--watching DVDs, iTunes, etc.  He hasn't even gotten to the way cool, out of control cool stuff yet.

I found it amusing that, like many Apple users, his computer has assumed a persona to him.  He calls it Bruce, which is the name of the voice the computer uses to talk to him.

Perhaps Apple needs to run a sales promotion for those customers who switch from Windows:  a few free special therapy sessions with every computer purchase to assist users in, what for some is, a difficult transition from a cold, harsh, stark, evil, black and white world of unexpected anomaly after another to the sunny, warm, beautifully, colorful world of the Apple user experience.  Yes, it's a cult.

Back to the store...  A large group sat in the learning area where an Apple Store person was teaching them just how cool the iPod they got for Christmas really is.  People were buying computers like mad.

One older gentleman, who thought I worked for Apple, [you mean I don't?] was asking me all about the new iMac.  I asked him if he was interested in buying one.  He said that his grandchildren are just crazy about theirs and their new iPod.  He had never used an Apple, never really even been around one. 

He was taken in by how slick the new iMac monitor looked.  He asked me if it came with the clear plexiglas inclosure around the monitor.  I said, “Oh! No, no, no.  You don't understand.  This is the entire computer, not just a monitor.  And it comes just like you see it here.”  “The whole computer is right here???” he gasped.  “That's really inexpensive!”  He gently touched it as if touching a beautiful woman.

Anyway, in talking with the manager of the store, she said, “I know it sounds unbelievable, but we really, literally, god's honest truth sold 4 tons of iPods this holiday season.”  My God!  Each of those little dudes is lite, lite, lite.  They must have sold thousands upon thousands of them!!

When the Apple Store at Lenox first opened, Apple's stock was selling at $14 a share.  As I now “speak” it is $64.44.  Hmmm, lets see what it does at the end of this quarter when Apple announces its bottom line.

Just cool.  Way cool!

You know, I just hate Windows Media Player.  It's such garbage when compared to QuickTime!  It will not even allow you to scroll through video frame by frame. 

At any rate, here is a site that has posted 6 home-made video movies of the tsunami.  It's very sad.  This picture of a restaurant was taken from one of the clips.  In the clip you see an elderly couple trying to hold on to a railing but getting swept away railing and all.  You see this nice restaurant before it is hit and then while it is being destroyed.

I suppose what I find most unfortunate is that it is such a beautiful resort area, a gorgeous sunny day, with nothing that portends of disaster slowly moving in to engulf and destroy everything in its path.  Since I'm from hurricane country, I am accustomed to seeing this type of destruction when you know it's coming.  Hours, even days in advance, the weather is horrible.  The wind and tides gradually become out of control.  This just quietly swept in and killed and destroyed while the sun glistened on the gorgeous beach.

President Bush said on Monday,

“Mr. Secretary, thank you for your hospitality, and thank you for your leadership. You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror. You're doing a superb job. You are a strong Secretary of Defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude.”

In my humble opinion, Donald Rumsfeld is nothing short of an arrogant dangerous man--sorta like his boss.

The insurance adjuster, Brook, stopped by yesterday to assess the damage to the house.  He said he would write up his damage report today and send me a copy.  Basically my homeowner's insurance will be repairing the following house damage:

• replace the kitchen floor and sub-floor
• replace the baseboard under the cabinets
• clean the wax stain from the fireplace mantle
• clean the wax from my great grandmother's end table
• clean the wax from the glass dining room table
• clean the wax from the walls and floor
• repaint the dining room and living room
• re-caulk the ceiling in the living room and dining room
• repaint the ceiling in the living room and dining room

If the damage to the house exceeds $5,000 then the insurance company cuts a check for that amount, and when the repairs are completed the contractor issues a statement saying so and a check for any remaining cost is cut.  Seems sort of odd.

I had replacement cost for the damaged contents of the house.  Thank God!  I knew that I had had replacement cost in the past, but was unsure if I had it with this property.  The insurance company issues a check for up to $2,000 for damaged contents and then cuts a check for the difference once a bill for any items exceeding that amount is presented to them.  Basically they will be replacing:

• 8 candles from the Pottery Barn
• 5 large Paddywax candles from Donna Van Goghs–a cool little shop in Candler Park
• 6 small Paddywax candles from Donna Van Goghs
• 1 large 3-tiered candle that was a gift
• a DVD (which got soaked in melted wax on the table)
• the frame of a newly-framed picture (a huge enlargement of a picture I took in Murano, Italy)
• a vase that was broken by a falling melting candle
• 2 plants
• computer repaired or replaced if unrepairable (my poor baby!)

The insurance will not cover the cost of the ungodly natural gas bill I will get this month!  I will have my attorney friend take that up with the thermostat manufacturer.

Additionally, I asked Brook if my filing this claim would result in my policy being canceled or premiums being raised.  He could not say one way or the other.  If either happens, I will hold the manufacturer of the thermostat liable for that as well.  If I had been negligent or if the old heater had broken, I would just chalk it up to fate.  But the thermostat was less than a year old.  It's failure and the damage that it caused is unacceptable.

Moncrieff Heating and Air just left and with him went $253.  Finally, the heater is running again after the fire department shut it off.  The technician, Bob, confirmed that the thermostat was defective, and he replaced it.  He said the furnace was in really good condition.  He said the wiring from the thermostat to the heating unit was fine.

Source:  Monterey County Herald | 12/26/2004 | Dave Barry's Year in Review:
Posted on Sun, Dec. 26, 2004

Dave Barry's Year in Review
By DAVE BARRY

Looking back on 2004, we have to conclude that it could have been worse. “HOW??” you ask, spitting out your coffee. Well, OK, a giant asteroid could have smashed into the earth and destroyed all human life except Paris Hilton and William Hung. Or Florida could have been hit by 20 hurricanes, instead of just 17.

Or the Yankees could have won the World Series.

But no question, 2004 was bad. Consider:

• We somehow managed to hold a presidential election campaign that for several months was devoted almost entirely to the burning issue of: Vietnam.

• Our Iraq policy, despite being discussed, debated and agreed upon right up to the very highest levels of the White House, did not always seem to be wildly popular over there in Iraq.

• Osama bin Laden remained at large for yet another year (although we did manage, at long last, to put Martha Stewart behind bars).

• The federal budget deficit continued to worsen, despite the concerted effort of virtually every elected official in Washington -- Republican or Democrat -- to spend more money.

• As a nation, we managed somehow to get even fatter, despite the fact that anti-carbohydrate mania worsened to the point where the average American would rather shoot heroin than eat a bagel.

• The “reality”-show cancer continued to metastasize, so that you couldn't turn on the TV without seeing either Donald Trump or a cavalcade of dimwits emoting dramatically about eating bugs, losing weight, marrying a millionaire or remodeling a bathroom.

• Perhaps most alarming of all, Cher yet again extended her “farewell” tour, which began during the Jimmy Carter administration and is now expected to continue until the sun goes out.

So all things considered, we're happy to be entering a new year, which according to our calculations will be 2005 (although the exit polls are predicting it will be 1997). But before we move on, let's swallow our anti-nausea medication and take one last look back at 2004, which began, as so many years seem to, with...

Talked with mother today.  All of the test results that have come back thus far have been negative.  Only one remains, which was scheduled for this afternoon, the MRI.  She said she was feeling better, but then who wouldn't if they were pumped full of demerol and morphine?!

She anticipated being released from the hospital this afternoon.

I called Estes yesterday morning.  They have always serviced my HVAC system.  The dispatcher said they would come out today sometime in the afternoon.  I told her that was too late, that I was without heat.  She came back on the line and said they would be yesterday after twelve.  I waited at the house until 7:00pm, when I went out for dinner.  They never showed up nor did they call.

If I were you, I would never use their services.  I despise people that lie or fail to live up to their word.

It's 37º outside and 57º in the house.  I called another heating and air service vendor who said they can not come out until tomorrow morning.  I guess I'll just freeze in the mean time.

Mother had a terrible headache while we were all home.  At that time we thought she had pulled a muscle in her neck.

Apparently it has become much worse.  Wondering if she has had another stroke, she has gone to the ER.  The hospital did a spinal tap.  Thank heavens she doesn't have spinal meningitis.  They are running tests to see what is causing the intense pain. 

I'll post when I hear more information.

Here is a link to a useful web-safe color tool from Well-Styled.

I just don't get all the internet hype about Skype.  What am I missing?  I can't even get it to work!

May be on the way!

Apple applies for a new patent for iTunes.

Sort of a cool idea:  when you post to a blog your pic of choice goes with you! --Click here for the site

This is really cool!  No longer will I have to launch Windows on my Mac.  Thank God!

You submit your URLs and this site shows you what they will look like in most browsers on most platforms!  Way cool!!

Click here for the site.

to find alien life forms in outer space.  :o)

If you don't know about this project, you should.  SETI@Home stands for the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence.  You can participate by letting Berkeley share some of your computer bandwidth to crunch through some of the massive amounts of data their satellites pick up from outer space.

So help me god, if I contact life out there I'm unplugging my computer for good!  I just don't feel like a planetary ambassador today.

(Click to enlarge)

I was too wired to sleep last night, after all of the unexpected excitement. So I went to a 10:00pm movie, The Motorcycle Diaries–a good movie. Just before leaving, I turned off the attic fan and closed all of the windows except for the one in my bedroom which I left opened about 1 inch. The thermostat read 75º. When I returned from the movie, the temperature in the house had gone up to 78º!

When I got up this morning, the thermostat in the house, without a heater all night long, and with a slightly opened bedroom window, read 73º. I spent most of the night sleeping on top of the covers. It was just too hot. This morning at 7:00am, when I left the house for breakfast, the thermostat in the car read 29º outside. I guess the walls of the house absorbed a tremendous amount of heat over the last several days. After all, they were literally hot to the touch.

Wow!! Unbelievable! 108º

I spent the last several days in the North Carolina mountains (where it was in the teens) and on the coast of Florida (where it courted freezing). I had a wonderful, cool Christmas time. Today I drove back to Atlanta under a cloudless sky with temperatures in the 50s.

While in Florida, I went to show my mother my Christmas music internet broadcast from my home computer in Atlanta, which I have written about before. The broadcast wasn't working. I was mildly concerned that my home computer had something wrong with it. But, it's a Mac. It hardly ever has problems. Did someone break in to my house and steal my computer? I was a little worried.

When I arrived home and unlocked the door, I reached for the door nob. It was hot, very, very hot to the touch. When I opened the door, I was blasted with a tremendous, all but roaring, heat wave. I was immediately confused, shocked, and puzzled, trying to figure out what was causing this thick, heavy, breath-taking heat.

When I entered the house, it was sweltering! I went straight to the HVAC thermostat. It said the inside temperature was 61º. The inside temperature was certainly not 61º. I tried to check the thermostat's setting. I had left it on 64º, where it stays almost all of the time during the winter. The computerized, touch sensitive thermostat would not respond. When you touch it, it should then show what the thermostat is set at and should offer up and down "buttons" so you can raise or lower what you set the HVAC system at. No response. 61º! I was puzzled. I decided to press the reset button. The whole thermostat seemed to go completely blank.

I turned it off completely--fortunately a manual switch on the underside. I then immediately went to every window in the house that opens and opened them all the way and turned the attic fan on high. I fully opened the front and back doors. I then called 911.

I was concerned that if I opened up the crawl space under the house, where the HVAC system is, a rush of air to the heater might cause it to explode. I walked downstairs thinking about switching the electricity to the heater off because heat was still gushing from the heater vent by the thermostat. I decided that this was not a wise idea. The heater may have turned off when I switched the thermostat completely off and might need the air circulating through it to cool down the heater unit itself. Shutting off the air might cause the already exceedingly hot unit to overheat and explode into flames.

When I came back upstairs where thermostat now read 108º!! Unbelievable! As I walked around, I started noticing some of the damage the heat had already done. My computer, which resides in an already warm enclosure in the desk (designed specifically for computers), was repeatedly turning itself on, over and over again. The live plants in the house were all dead and wilted. I have dozens of candles around the house. Almost all of them were in various states of "meltedness." The two on the dining room table were in pools of running wax. The kitchen floor was horribly buckled and wavy. One of the melted candles knocked over a very nice (expensive) vase when it leaned over while melting, breaking the vase to bits and smearing wax on the frame to a picture on the wall. The florescent lights in the laundry area and in my closet will not turn on.

When the firemen arrived I briefed them at the end of my driveway as they approached my home. The temperature of the house was now about 105º. They went to the basement and went under the house to check out the furnace. It had indeed shut off but was still running the fan in an effort to reduce the heat in the furnace system. The firemen speculated that "the cheapest part of the system caused the system failure"--the thermostat. They walked about the house. One commented on how hot the walls of the house were near the ceiling. They shut the electricity and the gas off to the furnace just in case the unit itself is faulty. They advised that I contact my HVAC service man in the morning.

I have taken many pictures to document the destruction. Here some 2 to 3 hours later, the house is still warm at 75º. I had a list of things to do this week on vacation. Funny how plans can unexpectedly change in a heartbeat. In the morning I will call an attorney friend of mine, my insurance company, and the HVAC service people I use. If the furnace checks out to be OK, as I suspect it will, then the manufacturer of the faulty thermostat, which I know was not working properly when I entered the house and it read 61º as the inside temperature, and the vendor who sells them will have to make good on this mess.

My gas bill is already too insanely high, and I'll be damned if I'm paying for all the of the gas the furnace burned because of this faulty thermostat!

Thank god my house didn't burn to the ground while I was away! Good God Almighty! I've never had such an experience.

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A simple, ancient holiday greeting with which I wish our nation were more familiar: peace on earth, good will toward all people.

We know the words but fail to live them.

A billboard near my house says:

"Donate your used car to the Lord."

and has a web address to contact. Are they going to give them to poor people who can not afford cars or continue to condemn such people as lazy and undeserving while they put more money in their coffers to promote their aggressive morality?!

I say, "Give your used car to a person who can not afford one."

Give the gift of cool this holiday!

(Click to enlarge)

Came Across these pictures:

(Politically Savy)

(For those too busy to walk their pet)

(Click either to enlarge)

Came across an internet vendor that had this on their web site:

Economic embargo on Red States continues

Because of their support for war, terrorism, and backwards social and human rights policies, We no longer ship to those U.S. States which voted to re-elect George W. Bush. Our Economic Embargo on the Red States will continue until further notice.

Wow.  This is pretty interesting.  Medical imaging is moving right along.  Check out this guys post–dude's got guts.

(Click to enlarge)

OK, I'm reading one of his books because I'm fascinated with this whole concept of how tools limit or expand what we can create.  And today I bump into his blog, quite by accident--through a link to a link to a link...sorta six blogs (degrees) of separation.

“Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software” (Steven Johnson)

Check out this movie of the air traffic in the USA on a single day.  It too behaves like ants.

Steve also wrote this, which is next on my list:

“Interface Culture : How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate” (Steven Johnson)

This is an interesting site hosted by Cal Tech about snow flakes, their physics, how to grow them, pictures, etc.  I suggest you check it out to be “seasonally correct.”

(Click to enlarge)

I mentioned last week that I purchased the Moto RAZR (V3), which is about the size of an iPod Mini, to try it out.  It's sleek and sturdy.  I just synced my entire address book (which is huge) and iCal calendars to it!  I love how easy the keyboard is to use and see!  And the voice tags are easy to store and use.  I wish I could have more than 20 of them though.

I bought an inexpensive USB cable which works!  The USB cable charges the phone as well as serving as the data connection for iSync.  Regrettably the Mac and the Moto will not pair with Bluetooth.

For lots of pictures of the phone and an excellent overview of its functionality, check out this post at Endgadget.

(Click to enlarge)

When you press the volume keys on your Mac keyboard, you can get enormously loud popping sounds when you are connected to an amplifier and speakers.  Cool at times, annoying at others.

There is a simple solution. Just hold down the shift key while pressing your volume keys. Tah Dah!

And just for fun, try holding down the shift key while doing other tasks in Mac OS X, like minimizing a window, for example.

The dogs with the most gas.  Now how did they measure this?

1.  German Shepherd
2.  Mutt
3.  Labrador Retriever
4.  Boxer
5.  Doberman Pinscher
6.  Poodle
7.  Cocker Spaniel
8.  Rottweiler
9.  Beagle
10. Dalmation

Source:  AkPharma | Curtail - top 10 stinkers

When technology works, it's great. But...

Today I started at the Apple Store. I needed a way to get some old files I somehow deleted from my present system off of an old backup. Only one problem: the backup is at least 5 years old and on a JAZ drive. I didn't even have a way to connect the device to my present computer. The files were archived 3 computers ago! Well, over 150 miles later and even more dollars, lots of head-aches, tech support chat, and internet research and downloads, the files still are unavailable to me.

The files represent hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours of work--large music projects that spanned several years. I simply will never re-create them. Hopefully I can return all of the hardware purchases and, for about the same amount of money, have Iomega retrieve and then burn the data down to a data DVD for me.

This all brings up a distasteful issue: the farther and faster technology leaps ahead, the more quickly it actually self-destructs. Case in point (and this is an abbreviated list): the 45, LP record, 8 track, cassette, BetaMax, 8mm, VHS, CD, and soon to be the DVD as a new high definition DVD standard is in the works. (I'm hearing in the neighborhood of 30 gig compared to today's 4.7 gig DVDs.) Planned obsolescence makes keeping important data accessible a demanding and expensive challenge. You need hardware to play the new data formats. When I look at the large array of the storage devices today I get overwhelmed at how complex this process is becoming. I suspect an entire industry is building up around data archival. No sooner does industry standardize on a format than that format is replaced.

Source:  Yahoo! Search blog: Yahoo! Video Search Beta

There were some rumors a few weeks back about Video Search products coming in 2005. Well, we're ready to show you what we've got today--and to ask for your feedback. An early Yahoo! Video Search Beta is now up on Yahoo! Next, our preview site for new technology and applications. I've spent a few hours with it in the last few weeks. Go try it out and let us know what you think. Remember that it's a beta product.

Why Video?
The costs of producing video content have been steadily decreasing in recent years. Between the adoption of broadband Internet connections, and easier to use video editing software, it's no surprise that we're seeing a lot more video content make its way on to the Internet. And what's out there today is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Backstory
But there's more to the story here than the blossoming world of on-line video and building a video search system: it's often not easy for a web crawler to find downloadable and streaming video content. Unlike web images and most audio files, videos aren't always easy to discover. In many cases, they're hidden behind complex JavaScript, Flash-based players, and other non-crawler friendly obstacles. That's exactly why we've talking to a lot of our existing media partners, many of whom have sizeable video assets which have yet to be indexed.

Extreme Blogging
Matt Rand, 12.15.04

Passively browsing the Web may be a thing of the past. New technologies are taking collaborative Web spaces to the next level.
Blogs are so last year. The next big thing, according to Web junkies, is the “wiki.” What are wikis? They are Web sites that are open for editing by anyone with a browser, without any fancy applications or programming skills necessary.

Think a reference Web site on the history of Vietnam is biased? Scrub it clean. Think a documented procedure on your company's Web site is out of date and needlessly inefficient? Rewrite it.

Source:  Forbes.com: Extreme Blogging

It's out there--way out there. I am now sitting in Lenox Mall. I had hoped the mall would open at 9:00am for the season. I wanted to be here first thing to finish my Christmas shopping. Naturally, I wanted to end my shopping at the Apple Store!!

I am disappointed, sorta. The stores do not open until 10:00. Not to fear. As usual, I brought my laptop with me to work if needed.

I sat down in front of the Apple Store, opened my laptop, and it asked me if I wanted to join the open network at the Apple Store! Well, yeah. So here I sit at the mall listening to the internet webcast I am broadcasting from my home.

Amazing!

OK, it's in the wee hours of the morning, what do you expect?!  Here's a new little experiment I piddled with tonight (this morning). 

I know it works for Macs.  Windows users let me know what terror you experience. 

Below is a picture of an antique radio.  Clicking on it should take you to a live webcast of the holiday music I am playing from iTunes right now.

Just for kicks I've added a 1950's quality to the broadcast:  record pops, scratches, etc.  I'll leave it broadcasting at least on Sunday and Monday, December 19th - 20th.

(Click the radio to actually play it)

According to iPod Lounge, Belkin is due to release its Bluetooth stereo connection solution for Apple's iPod, called TuneStage. “TuneStage will consist of two components - a receiver and a transmitter - which will connect any iPod via wireless Bluetooth link to any stereo system.”

Source:  MacMerc.com: Belkin to Release Bluetooth Solution for iPod

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Source:  Comics.com

Wireless
Get Ready To Call ITunes
Arik Hesseldahl, 12.16.04, 2:00 PM ET

NEW YORK - Apple Computer and Motorola could soon show us the mobile phone they are developing to play music purchased from Apple's iTunes online music store.

“We've said we have something coming on this in the first half of 2005 and we're definitely on schedule for that. Hopefully you'll be able to see more about it soon,” says Eddy Cue, vice president in charge of applications at Apple.

If the phone is as far along as Cue suggests, then Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs would be likely to announce it during his annual keynote speech at MacWorld Expo, scheduled for Jan. 11, 2005 in San Francisco. ...

Entire Source:  Forbes.com: Get Ready To Call ITunes

Apple is outrageously cool!  Oh, but you knew I thought that!!

And from Mike Davidson on the same topic:

While I am very excited about the official announcement, the revelation that it will be a “mid-range” device probably means that I won’t dump my Treo for it. Once you’ve tasted the sweetness that is the high-range, full-featured phone, it’s tough to imagine going back. However, we all know that Apple is not in the business of producing anything “mid-range”, so I’d bet a large sum of money that this initial iPhone release is just the tip of the iceberg. Might we see a “PowerPhone” shortly thereafter? We most certainly will. The only question is when. Want another prediction? Same time next year.

U.S. Newspapers and RSS

I'd been looking for a list like this for quite a while...here are over 150 local, state and national U.S. newspapers with RSS feeds. And that doesn't include international papers. I just think that's pretty amazing, and there is no doubt that number is going to grow.

Right now, every student in my school could have a free subscription to the New York Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News and a whole bunch of other really respected, well-written newspapers. If they wanted to get a little ambitious, they could go to Blogdigger and “roll their own” feeds from the various newspapers of interest, say The Week in Review from the Times, national news from the Post, the learning news from the Christian Science Monitor, the local news from the Philly Inquirer, and the weather from USA Today. And it would all come to them, as it happens, whenever they want to read it. That does not, of course, guarantee that they would read it, but still. It's not hard to set them up with a Bloglines account, create a feed for them, have them add it, and then give them a few minutes every other day or so to check out what's new. Or have them add interesting stories to a class blog. Or have them find their own feeds. Or...

Source:  Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom

This free little application, Snø, for Macs only, has beautiful little snowflakes falling all over your desktop.  They stay behind your active window.  Beautiful, festive, and clever.  You can also can run the program as a screen saver.

This site, Project 24, offers some interesting scripts and calendar subscriptions.  For example:  You can have the current weather and the weather forecast appear in iCal. 

Current weather is cool. It moves down your calendar as the time changes.  You can use a script that will display the current weather in your iChat availability message.  Others too.

Here I sit having my car detailed.  It's filthy.  I brought my mac with me to work and blog while I wait.  I planned to save the blog posts and post the entries later.  Much to my shock, I sat down, opened my computer, and it asked me if I wanted to join the open wireless high speed network.  I said “Sure.”–a special dialogue box only available on the mac.  :o)

Here I sit blogging, posting, and surfing the web.  Whoever would have thought that the car detail and oil change place would have 2 high speed wireless networks.  Or maybe, it's someone else?  Cool none the less.

Confirmation:  the owner likes wireless DSL.  He said all of the coffee places have wireless networks (which you have to pay for might I add!), why shouldn't he?!  I told him he should advertise this to increase his business!  Great idea!

Consistent with my “people not corporations” mentality is the fact that I love to eat at locally owned and operated restaurants. I have about a half dozen favorites in Atlanta. One of the ones I frequent near my house is Evans. Mike and Pete, brothers, own and operate the restaurant. Their dad helps them out on the weekends and some mornings.

This is a local hangout with a very stable clientele, many of whom have been eating at Evans for years. The only thing I don't like about the restaurant is election time when all the local politicians hang out talking politics there. They're just trying to solicit votes. But, like many others, especially those from the nearby retirement homes and Emory University, Evans has virtually been “my kitchen” for many, many meals now.

In places like this, you tend to get to know people. The waitresses know what I always order, what I do for a living, etc. I know about their families and other jobs. The little children run around the restaurant talking to everyone while their parents take a few minutes to enjoy relaxing. It's very casual and pretty connected.

This morning I was running later than usual for a Saturday breakfast. The restaurant was packed with a long line of folks waiting. Just after I was seated and Mike brought me my routine Diet Coke (I like my morning caffeine cold.) the unexpected happened. An elderly man came up to the booth in which I sat and asked if he could join me for breakfast! Well, casual indeed!

Frankly, I must admit I was a bit caught off guard, but he seemed nice enough, so I said, “Sure.” I must admit to being a little relieved when Mike's dad came up and said, “Mr. Herbert, will it be your usual?” Ok, so I was with someone everyone knew. I could deal with that.

Well, as it turns out, Mr. Herbert's full name is Herbert Evans, as in Evans Fine Foods Restaurant. He and his 2 older brothers started the restaurant in 1946 and sold it to Mike and Pete in the 1980s. I had a delightful breakfast talking with Mr. Herbert. When his brothers died he sold the 4 restaurants and the 800 Peachtree Building (all of which he owned) and retired in a retirement home just down the street–near my home actually. He said he was the accountant, or “pencil pusher” as he called it, and had no business trying to run the restaurants after his brothers passed away. His oldest brother had overseen the commissaries when he was in the military. When he would place an order for the commissaries, he would order for the restaurant.

When I was paying my bill, the cashier, Louis, who has worked at Evans far longer than I have been eating there, asked me how I enjoyed my breakfast guest this morning. I told him I would be glad to eat with Mr. Herbert anytime. He told me that he thought I wouldn't mind eating with him this morning so he told Mr. Herbert to go sit with me rather than stand in the cold at the door waiting for a table to become available. I suppose this is one of the many reasons I like eating in local establishments.

I work with women, lots and lots of women.  Sometimes I think they take out on me what they could never get away with with their hubbies!  Like this little piece circulated amongst themselves with great glee and rejoicing:

“According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of the winter, usually late November to mid-December.  Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical depiction Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should've known...ONLY women would be able to drag a fat-ass man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.”

It takes so little to amuse them.  :o)

ecto, my blogging GUI (graphic user interface) is even more cool now.  With the click of the mouse I have always been able to share with you what I am listening to on iTunes:  Trumpet Concerto in G Minor, No. 10: III. Sarabande. Largo from the album “Trumpet Concertos” by Hedwig Bilgram, Karl Richter, Maurice André & Münchener Bach-Orchester. See, like that.  Cool.  Yes.

But now, with little effort I can share with you that I recently made this DVD purchase: 

“Spider-Man 2 (Widescreen Special Edition)” (Sam Raimi)

There are other cool features as well:

• Cached attachments that can easily be reused
• A rich attachment feature set
• A nice rich text mode/HTML mode with a nice toolbar set of format options (like this bulleted list)
• Easily build photo album posts directly from iPhoto
• Word count
• Stationary and Template sets
• More customizable than I presently know how to work!

So, if you are looking for an easy and wonderful GUI to use for your blogging, I highly recommend ecto.  This weekend I will explore connecting it to my work blogs.

Frankly, I hate my existing phone.  The teeny tiny little keys don't function about a third of the time when you press them.  The memory for the address book is much too limited (only about 250 entries allowed).  The user interface is not intuitive, and the voice dialing feature actually works less well than the windows operating system–impossible to believe anything could be worse, I know!  I did like the bluetooth features: my wireless headset and wireless iSync-ing with my Mac. 

So, I am trying out a new phone.  I don't know what I will think of it.  Its the new Motorola RAZR.  Regrettably it will not sync with my Mac through iSync.  I hope this will change soon.  I like the keys.  It's thin, incredibly thin and light weight.  The OS is far more intuitive.  It works with my existing bluetooth JABRA headset.  It's just absurdly expensive.  I purchased it on a trial basis tonight.

...what I would post about tonight.  More than I thought!

And I notice we have now spent over $150 billion dollars to kill about 17,000 people we don't like.  Now, let me see... that's about $8,823,529.41 to kill one person.  Damn, couldn't we get a better deal than that?! 

17,000 is about the size of a nice little city, don't you think?  Oh, but they are (or in this case, were) bad people--very, very bad people.  So, that makes it OK that we annihilated the equivalent of a small city, right?

Not factored into this price per murdered person is the cost of each of our own boys and girls who have been killed or horrifically maimed. 

Is anyone paying attention?!

Came across another little questionnaire.  Pick one to answer in a comment.

1. If you could build a house anywhere where would it be?
2. What's your favorite article of clothing?
3. If you could have chosen your name what would it have been?
4. The last cd that you bought?
5. Where is your favorite place to be?

6. Where is your least favorite place to be?
7. What time do you wake in the morning?
8. What's your favorite kitchen appliance?
9. What makes you really angry
10. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

11. Favorite colors?
12. Favorite children's book?
13. What's your favorite season?
14. If you could have one super power, what would it be?
15. The one person from the past you wish you could go back and talk to.

16. What is your favorite day
17. What is in the trunk of your car?
18. Sushi or hamburger?
19. What is your favorite cartoon?
20. What really matters to you?

Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, “Why did they beat me?”

And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.

They will tell you: Every single day.

The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.

As victims we can't stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can't seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.

Hmmm...

Ever so typically American:  disproportionate levels of fear!

(Click to enlarge)

Drag any PDF file into your iTunes Library window, or into a playlist; you'll see that it gets added to the library or playlist. All the fields in iTunes are empty, except for the song name (which is the filename without the .pdf extension), but you can enter information in the others.

Source: macosxhints - Organize PDF files in iTunes

Missile defence shield test fails

The first test in almost two years of the planned multi-billion dollar US anti-missile shield has failed. The Pentagon said an interceptor missile did not take off and was automatically shut down on its launch pad in the central Pacific. A target missile carrying a mock warhead had been fired 16 minutes earlier from Kodiak Island in Alaska. The Pentagon is spending $10bn a year on the missile system, which was meant to be in operation by the end of 2004.

The Missile Defence Agency said an “unknown anomaly” was to blame for the system shutting down.

Source: BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Missile defence shield test fails

Fox News Channel, Giving 'Em More Zell
By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; Page C07

Sen. Zell Miller, the fire-and-brimstone-preaching Dixiecrat who tried to challenge MSNBC's Chris Matthews to a duel after delivering the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, has been welcomed with open arms by Fox News Channel.

The cable network announced yesterday it has signed the departing Georgia Democrat as a contributor, beginning in January.

Entire Source: Fox News Channel, Giving 'Em More Zell (washingtonpost.com)

Apple is not a computer.  It's not an mp3 player.  It's not technology.  It's a cult.  Think different.  I do!

Source: Wired Magazine

LITTLETON, Colo. Dec 14, 2004 — A Marine who was a freshman at Columbine High School when two students killed 13 people there was killed in action in Iraq, his family said.

Entire Source: ABC News: Marine From Columbine H.S. Killed in Iraq

My bookkeeper's husband has a great twisted sense of humor--hence my gift this year.

(Click to enlarge)

Get it?  ... a cartridge in a bare tree.  :o)

One of the ladies I work with bought the secretaries in the front office each a chia pet:  Tweety Bird, Bugs Bunny, Garfield, and Einstein.  So fun!  So here are a couple pictures of Tweety...

(Click to enlarge)

The libraries of five of the world's most important academic institutions are to be digitised by Google. Scanned pages from books in the public domain will then be made available for search and reading online. The full libraries of Michigan and Stanford universities, as well as archives at Harvard, Oxford and the New York Public Library are included. Online pages from scanned books will not have adverts but will have links to online store Amazon, Google said.

Entire Source: BBC NEWS | Technology | Google to scan famous libraries

This link contains graphic and disturbing pictures provided by the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C..  The pictures are from the war zone and speak to the horror of what is going on every day there.

Why?

Link

This information arrived in an email to me.  I have several questions, comments, reactions...

1. Is this true?
2. Is there truly such a disparity in average IQ score averages by state? (If so, as an educator, I find this disturbing!  What causes such a thing?!)
3. What is the source of data?
4. I find it very hard to believe that so few states have IQ averages above the norm of 100 and so many have IQ averages below the norm.  Statistically we should find 50% above and 50% below.
5. Who can shed light on this?

State: Average IQ, Presidential Vote
1. Connecticut: 113, Kerry
2. Massachusetts: 111, Kerry
3. New Jersey: 111, Kerry
4. New York: 109, Kerry
5. Rhode Island: 107, Kerry
6. Hawaii: 106, Kerry
7. Maryland: 105, Kerry
8. New Hampshire: 105, Kerry
9. Illinois: 104, Kerry
10. Delaware: 103 ,Kerry
11. Minnesota: 102, Kerry
12. Vermont: 102, Kerry
13. Washington: 102, Kerry
14. California: 101, Kerry
15. Pennsylvania: 101, Kerry
16. Maine: 100, Kerry
17. Virginia: 100, Bush
18. Wisconsin: 100, Kerry
19. Colorado: 99, Bush
20. Iowa: 99, Bush
21. Michigan: 99, Kerry
22. Nevada: 99, Bush
23. Ohio: 99, Bush
24. Oregon: 99, Kerry
25. Alaska: 98, Bush
26. Florida: 98, Bush
27. Missouri: 98, Bush
28. Kansas: 96, Bush
29. Nebraska: 95, Bush
30. Arizona: 94, Bush
31. Indiana: 94, Bush
32. Tennessee: 94, Bush
33. North Carolina: 93, Bush
34. West Virginia: 93, Bush
35. Arkansas: 92, Bush
36. Georgia: 92, Bush
37. Kentucky: 92, Bush
38. New Mexico: 92, Bush
39. North Dakota: 92, Bush
40. Texas: 92, Bush
41. Alabama: 90, Bush
42. Louisiana: 90, Bush
43. Montana: 90, Bush
44. Oklahoma: 90, Bush
45. South Dakota: 90, Bush
46. South Carolina: 89, Bush
47. Wyoming: 89, Bush
48. Idaho: 87, Bush
49. Utah: 87, Bush
50. Mississippi: 85, Bush

Why?  Because it is so possible now the way things are moving.

(Click here to watch video)

You simply must view the video from AdCritic Interactive!

Growing up as a kid, I simply loved the music of Karen Carpenter.  What an enormous loss to music.  I was just thinking about her music since I was listening to an iTunes smart playlist of holiday music that brought up: The Christmas Song from the album “Time-Life Treasury Christmas” by The Carpenters

Only in Atlanta...  Only at the American Roadhouse where a rather diverse and eccentric crowd of people meet to eat...

She was sitting with her friend at the booth across from us.  She recently had been to New Mexico. 

On that trip, she lost time, 24 hours to be exact.  She hadn't just had too much too drink or some mind altering drug(s).  This fact could be verified, she said, by another friend who was with her and lost 24 hours as well.

She had what appeared to be prematurely white hair, solid white, which was just above her shoulders.  Her eyes were narrow and lit with fire. 

She spoke of mystery. 

She whispered of alien abduction.

This past week I “bumped into” two people I haven't seen in many years.  The first, Mike, I ran into in a restaurant.  I found out he had just moved back to Atlanta from out west about 4 weeks ago.  Then, the next day, I got a phone call from someone who said I had crossed her mind 3 times that day, and she just had to call and check on me.  We haven't seen each other in over 10 years.

Talking with her was a delight.  She invited me to hear the choir I conducted at her church more than ten years ago.  I went today.  It was heartwarming to see those wonderful people again after so long.  Many of them looked the very same.  The choir did a marvelous job. 

They have a new pastor, which I think is a good thing!  And the area has utterly changed in 10 years–from fields and woods to mass development.  I liked the fields and woods better.  And finally, the last thing that had changed:  the size of the sanctuary had grown significantly in my mind's eye over time.  I was utterly shocked at how small it really is.

Today was a beautiful, brisk, sunny Sunday spent seeing some wonderful friends from times past: Triva, Mary Beth, Jeff & Kelly, Don & Patsy, Ora, Janelle, Angie, and especially June (with whom I have always felt a very special spiritual connection). 

The day ended with my finding another Bicentennial Quarter to add to my collection.  Since I started collecting them in 1976 I have a number of them but rarely see any these days.

I went to see the movie Kinsey last night, unsure what I would think.  I liked it.  I really don't know if the movie was factual about Dr. Kinsey's life and work or not.  I know of his work in broad strokes and nothing of his life.  A few interesting things from the movie:

1. Nature consistently presents one immutable fact: diversity and variance.
2. A vast difference exists between what people say they do and what they actually do.  (Have you heard me harp on that one?!)
3. His mind seemed so utterly focused on empirical evidence about sexual conduct to the exclusion of the psychological, emotional, or moral significance ascribed to those behaviors.

The movie was really pretty interesting and made me wish I knew more factual details about his life and research.

Two interesting bumper stickers were sited in one day and on different cars.  This one has the potential for deep meaning:

Inquire Within

And this one is the sad truth:

War Isn't Working

When I was in Rome last year, I fell in love with these cute little cars, called Smart cars and took the picture below.  Now they will start selling them in the USA soon!!  I would love to have one, but I fear I would be run over by a Hummer on I-285 without anyone noticing!

Europe's popular, eco-friendly Smart ForTwo, which gets 60mpg, has recently got clearance from the EPA to be sold in the U.S. Zap, a California based company, plans on selling about 15,000 modified U.S. versions of the Smart per year and will offer SUV and luxury versions. The price of these vehicles will be from $15,000 to $23,000.  Source

(Click to enlarge--well, sorta...)

Head suspends homework shirkers
No pupils have been suspended this week

Pupils who miss three homework assignments in a row are facing suspension under a crackdown launched by a head teacher. Lesley Lawson sent home 25 children in a week from Fort Hill Community School in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Pupils who refuse to do their homework are put in a separate room and if they continue to miss assignments are sent home for two days.  Mrs Lawson said those not bothering to hand in work were “missing out”.

Read the entire article:  BC NEWS | Education | Head suspends homework shirkers

This came via email today.  I don't know if it's true, but...

With the Blue States in hand, the Democrats have firm control of:

80% of the nation's fresh water,
Over 90% of our pineapple and lettuce,
93% of the artichoke production,
95% of America's export quality wines,
90% of all cheese production,
Most of the US low-sulfur coal,
All living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister
schools, plus Stanford, CalTech and MIT.

We can live simply but well.

The Red States, on the other hand, now have to cope with:

88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care cost spike),
92% of all US mosquitoes,
99% of all Southern Baptists,
100% of all Televangelists,
Rush Limbaugh and Bob Jones University

An appropriate price to pay for winning the presidency.

A bumper sticker seen on the way to work this morning:

Support Our Troops;
Bring Them Home Alive!

This company has a handful of applications that are really interesting!

ZappTek :: iSpeak It:
Listen to your documents on your iPod.
Take any document or web page and convert it into an MP3/AAC track in iTunes using your Mac's built-in text-to-speech capabilities. From there it's a quick sync to your iPod and away you go!

ZappTek :: iPresent It
Make your next pitch using your iPod photo. With iPresent It you can convert your PowerPoint, PDF and Keynote presentations into slideshows that are synced with your iPod photo. Never carry a laptop into a presentation again; it's all on your iPod!

I'm not sure what it all really means, but, as of this minute, 2,646 unique visitors from the countries and domains listed below have visited my blog 8,054 times hitting 44,551 pages with 250,160 hits since it began on May 28, 2004.

Argentina (ar)
Australia (au)
Belgium (be)
Biz Domains (biz)
Brazil (br)
Canada (ca)
Columbia (co)
Commercial (com)
Croatia (hr)
Cyprus (cy)
Czech Republic (cz)
Denmark (dk)
Finland (fi)
France (fr)
Germany (de)
Greece (gr)
Hong Long (hk)
Hungary (hu)
India (in)
Indonesia (id)
Israel (il)
Italy (It)
Jamaica (jm)
Japan (jp)
Lithuania (lt)
Malaysia (my)
Mexico (mx)
New Zealand (nz)
Netherlands (nl)
Network (net)
Non-Profit Organizations (org)
Norway (no)
Peru (pe)
Poland (pl)
Portugal (pt)
Russian Federation (ru)
Saudi Arabia (sa)
Singapore (sg)
South Arica (za)
Sweden (se)
Switzerland (ch)
Taiwan (tw)
Thailand (th)
Turkey (tr)
USA Educational (edu)
USA Government (gov)
USA Military (mil)
United Kingdom (uk)
United States (us)

Unknown (ip)

Will We Finally Get Album Booklets from iTMS?

iTunes Music Store has been huge for digital music for purchase and download - that’s no secret. But as more and more people flock to purchasing their music via direct download stores, they’re missing one very tangible part of the CD-buying experience: The Cover art/Booklet.

Well perhaps Apple listened to the [at the time of this writing] 625 people who signed the online petition which called for album booklets and their cover art to be included as a pdf download with purchased iTMS music. It’s the next logical step, and one that can’t happen too soon in this author’s opinion (yes, my name’s on the list).

I’m sure there were many more than the 625 listed on the petition who drove Apple to release the booklet for U2’s latest album, in pdf form. The pdf is exactly the same as the booklet found in the jewel case of the CD that non iTMS’ers purchased. Hopefully this is the tip of the iceberg, and Apple will soon be releasing as many pdf album booklets as possible for their hundreds of thousands of songs offered through iTMS.

Source: The Apple Blog

“Christians have not always presented a pretty picture to the world.  Too often they have failed to show the beauty of love, the beauty of Christ, the holiness of God.  And the world has turned away.  ...  Must Christians continue to stand with arms folded, presenting to men a tarnished image of God--a shattered body of Christ?  ...  Francis A. Schaeffer, founder in 1955 of the L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland

These are extraordinary times, sad times.  I suppose one of the reasons I have been writing lately about Christianity is because I agree with this quotation from the article, “There is this aggressive morality that seems to me to have nothing to do with Christianity...”  I so badly want good people to carefully evaluate what it means to be a spiritual being. 

Some Say U.S. No Longer Feels Like Home
With Bush's Re-Election, Foreign Countries Look Better to Them
By DEAN SCHABNER

Nov. 10, 2004 -- Leora Dowling and her husband thought returning from deep in “red” America to her native New England would make them feel more comfortable, more like the people around them shared their values. Since the election, she's been contemplating another move. To Italy.

“After the election, my husband and I asked ourselves, 'How could our country be heading backward? How could so many people miss or choose to ignore the obvious failures of the Bush administration?'” the former Florida resident said.

President Bush pledged that one priority for his second term would be to heal the wounds that a bitter election — in which groups not formally connected to each candidate ran attack ads focused on character, not issues — seems to have opened for many Americans.

Dowling, a college professor who lives with her husband in Vermont, is not alone in feeling that the wounds cannot be healed, or at least that Bush is not the man to do it.

For Dowling, as for others who ABCNews.com spoke with, though the immediate anger may be focused on the president — whether because of the war in Iraq, his stance on same-sex weddings, what they say is his blurring of the line between church and state, or his championing of the Patriot Act — there is a broader concern. They say they feel the United States is changing in ways they do not like, and they feel powerless to stop it.

“We were leaving anyhow, mostly because we want to start a family and we don't feel our children can get a decent education in the United States,” said Brian Sinicki, of Laramie, Wyo.

He said America's schools fail children by not teaching subjects like philosophy and civics, subjects that he said would give Americans not only a deeper understanding of the world, but an appreciation for why they should be more actively involved in the political process, not only voting but staying informed.

He also criticized the media, and television in particular, for the way news is covered.

“Television I think has single-handedly destroyed the level of political discourse,” he said. “When I talk to people about politics, they're either radically misinformed or they wouldn't know how to define the terms that they use.”

You know, I love You Software.  They have cool stuff.  I use it all.  Now I am playing with this new beta product.  I'm not really sure what to make of it yet.

“You Control: Desktops allows you to create virtual desktops  that allow you to extend the functionality  of Mac OS X. You can create a desktop for  various workspaces that you define to help  you organize your personal workflow. Create a desktop for your email. Create another  for your image editing and organization. Create yet another for web-browsing.”

Source: You Control: Desktops

Life is always interesting.  Last night I saw an article that said IBM wants out of the machine business.  Today my secretary, whose husband works at IBM said IBM was going to stop making computers and move into software only.  This evening I read this article below.  Hmmm...

“An article over at The Register speculates that recent surges in Apple's stock price may have less to do with the popularity of the iPod and more to with the rumored purchase of IBMs PC division by the Cupertino company. Interesting? Yes. Likely? I dunno...”

Source: MacMerc.com

George Bush has already made one hell of a mess in Iraq; now he wants to make another one here at home!

“Social Security is a very popular system. It provides tens of millions of workers with a guaranteed retirement income. It also provides disability insurance to people during their working years and survivors' insurance to the children of workers who die at an early age.

Moreover, contrary to conservative rhetoric, the Social Security system is also extremely efficient. According to Dean Baker, writing recently in TomPaine.Com, the administrative costs of Social Security are just 0.6 cents of every dollar that gets paid out in benefits, a very low figure for a major government agency. Social Security also has a minimal amount of fraud and abuse, Baker adds, as numerous government audits have repeatedly documented.

Despite this track record, privatizing Social Security is one of George Bush's top second-term priorities. In the face of warnings from numerous economists of all stripes, the financial industry-- which stands to make billions in new business on privatized retirement accounts--and the Bush White House have been on a steady propaganda campaign to convince the public that Social Security is on the edge of bankruptcy and needs a quick fix.  ...”

Read the entire Source:  ActNow!

Thought this was a very neat feature to have on a car.  I guess I'll have to wait till I trade in my existing car.

(Click to play)

I quote from Francis A. Schaeffer's first chapter, The Law and the Law of Love, in True Spirituality:

"In summary then, of this chapter, which is an introduction to all that follows:

1. The true Christian life, true spirituality, does not mean just that we have been born again. It must begin there, but it means much more than that. It does not mean only that we are going to heaven. It does mean that, but it means much more than that. The true Christian life, true spirituality in the present life, means more than being justified and knowing that I am going to heaven.

2. It is not just a desire to get rid of taboos in order to live an easier and a looser life. [by this he means free of the rules of the Old Testament Jewish law] Our desire must be for a deeper life. And when I begin to think of this, the Bible presents to me the whole of the Ten Commandments and the whole of the Law of Love.

3. True spirituality, the true Christian life, is not just outward, but it is inward--it is not to covet against God and men.

4. But it is even more than this: it is positive, positive inward reality, and then positive outward results. The inward thing is to be positive and not just negative; and then sweeping out of the inward positive reality, there is to be a positive manifestation externally. It is not just that we are dead to certain things, but we are to love God, we are to be alive to him, we are to be in communion with him, in this present moment of history.

When I speak of the Christian life, or freedom from the bonds of sin, or of true spirituality, the four points listed above are what the Bible says we should mean, and anything less than this is trifling with God--trifling with him who created the world, and trifling also with him who died on the cross. ... If this is not in our minds, at least in some poor comprehension and at least in some poor aspiration, we might as well stop. Anything else is trifling with God, and because it is trifling with God, it is sin."

[all italics from the author]

Good heavens, these are tall orders. Our modern concept of spirituality is so selfish and materialistic, so unkind and negative.

Two little books by Francis A. Schaeffer were the most powerful to me at the time. I have reconnected with them since adding them to my new library database: the mark of the Christian, and True Spirituality. The capitalization of the first title is his choosing. I highly recommend that the church revisit these critically important ideas today. We need to ponder what he said back in 1970 more now than ever.

If I were to ask you, how will people know you are a Christian, if this is your faith journey, how would you answer? What is the mark of the Christian?

Many, I think would have several things on the list: I'm a person of conservative values. I believe the Bible. Many in my faith traditions would state that they have had a personal rebirth because of their acceptance of Jesus Christ.

Francis A. Schaeffer makes a single, profound quotation from the Bible: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye can not come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another." John 13:33-35.

The mark of the Christian is to be the example of love in this world. I just see so very, very little of it in people who claim this name. But Francis A. Schaeffer has much more to say about this. (to be continued...)

I have mentioned before that I grew up in an extremely conservative home, attended an ultra conservative private school from K - 12, and got 2 degrees from a militant fundamentalist university (that's what they called themselves) before going off to the University of Illinois for two more degrees.

Between my undergraduate degree in Music Education and my Masters degree in Piano Performance, I worked for 2 summers at the summer music camp at Interlochen, one of the richest experiences of my life. During those 2 summers I struck up a close friendship with some very wonderful people from around the world. One of them was Steve, with whom I have reconnected in the last couple years.

Steve introduced me to the writings of Francis A. Schaeffer. I read many of his books over those 2 summers. I devoured them. He made sense. His perspective on the Bible and what it says changed the way I thought profoundly, coupled with some long and thought-provoking conversations with a self-proclaimed atheist, P.K. (To read a little bit more about him check out number 73 in my 100 Things v 1.1) (to be continued...)

(Click above to play the Interlochen Theme)

The Interlochen Theme, from Howard Hanson's Romantic Symphony, is played at the end of each Camp orchestra and band performance and, shown here, at the conclusion of the Camp season. Edward J. Downing conducts the closing theme of this last concert of the season. You can see him break the baton to signify the close of summer camp. I can not express how beautiful my times here were. To this day, I find the theme deeply moving as it reconnects me to that time of metamorphosis and self-discovery. For the full size of this web video, as well as other videos about Interlochen, visit this section of the Interlochen site.

Yesterday I spoke of this wonderful software in which, with little of no effort, one can create a database of one's library resources. Well, this morning I did that very thing. In a short period of time I entered all of my books, DVDs, and a lot of my printed music scores. I couldn't enter all of the scores as most were printed before ISBN numbers were invented. Therefore, I'll have to add these by hand, over time.

This has been a fascinating journey--to lay hands on every book I own and have read, a few I still have to read. It was a journey back in time, seeing what has influenced my thinking and made me into the man I am today. I will comment more about this tomorrow as I share more about this very topic.

OMG! You have to check this out.

Delicious Monster is an amazing piece of inexpensive downloadable software ($40) offered by a company owned by an 18 year old. You hold the barcode on your book, CD, DVD, or (if you're into them) game up to your iSight camera. The software quickly scans the barcode and looks it up on Amazon.com.

Poof! It speaks the title and adds all of the information you ever would want to know about your item in a database that looks like a bookcase or a list (choice is yours). On the bookcase you see the cover of the item. When selected, you view details, info you may wish to add, or similar items for sale at Amazon with one click.

Want to sell your item at Amazon? No problem, click here. You can create collections (like playlists in iTunes). If you want to loan the item to someone, a simple click brings up your address book. Search, click, and they are added to the icons of people who are borrowing your stuff. Additionally, the software puts a reminder for you in iCal to get it back.

It's slick. It's cool. It works well. I love it and have already started cataloguing my DVD collection. Best feature? Look mom, no typing needed whatsoever!

(Click to enlarge)