Shot with a Canon 7D.

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Like it or not, YouTube has won. It's free, has HD, embeds, and has just enough privacy controls (Vimeo lets you control on which sites your videos can be embedded, YouTube does not) that it's used instead of Vimeo.

What will I lose?

If you do not renew your membership, your account will revert to the feature set available to non-Plus Vimeo members. You will not lose any videos or channels/groups/albums that you created during your Plus membership, no need to worry. However, any videos you have set special embed options for will revert to the normal embed options for basic accounts. Your original source files will no longer be available for download 30 days after your Plus account expires.

Eh. Not worth it. $59's a lot of money.

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Rebooting a few times seems to fix the problem sometimes, but basically, I think the ATI card is dead again.

There are numerous threads about the quality of this card on Apple's discussion forums (here's one, another, and there are plenty more) as well as on third-party sites. I found some other discussions earlier today that I can't find again. The latter one is particularly interesting.

I called the local store to see what they had available - they're an Apple authorized shop - and was told that the GeForce GT 120 would work in my machine, despite what I read and what Apple says. Perhaps this update will help?

I remain unsold. I guess I'll find out in 3-5 days. Given the machine's age, I don't know what I'll do if the GT 120 doesn't work as I suspect it won't.

Any ideas? The machine's behaving great except for the lack of video output. The display works on my MacBook Pro. I've tried different PCI slots. I've reset PRAM and the SMC, etc. I'm 99% confident it's a video card issue… for a machine that's just about to hit its four-year anniversary.

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The other day we looked at both stores for some more liners only to find out that our bucket has been discontinued or is at least no longer carried. I had to overpay (just a little, free shipping) on Amazon.com (I have Prime now, after all) just to get some liners shipped to me.

The Pelican Paint Bucket is superior to the current offerings. It's got a wide mouth that will fit a little roller. It has ridges to take excess paint off. It has a nice, grippy handle that's easy to slide your hand into yet very secure. And it has a magnet to hold your brush - an incredibly clever feature we use all the time.

Stupid Lowe's and Home Depot.

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The Dock application controls Spaces. I've worked around this bug by having an AppleScript in my Script Menu that quits the Dock.

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For a major version upgrade, things (the UI, the functionality, etc.) remained surprisingly consistent. A lot of back end tweaks.

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As you can see from the screenshot below, when reading a golf book the ligature issue is quite, uhm, noticeable.

I've filed a support request with Amazon. I'll update this blog entry when they respond.

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Perfect French Fries - Serves Four

Ingredients

• 2 pounds russet potatoes (about 4 large), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch fries (keep potatoes stored in a bowl of water)
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• Kosher salt
• 2 quarts peanut oil

Procedure

1. Place potatoes and vinegar in saucepan and add 2 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 10 minutes. Potatoes should be fully tender, but not falling apart. Drain and spread on paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet. Allow to dry for five minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in 5-quart Dutch oven or large wok over high heat to 400°F. Add 1/3 of fries to oil (oil temperature should drop to around 360°F). Cook for 50 seconds, agitating occasionally with wire mesh spider, then remove to second paper-towel lined rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining potatoes (working in two more batches), allowing oil to return to 400°F after each addition. Allow potatoes to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Continue with step 3, or for best results, freeze potatoes at least over night, or up to 2 months.
3. Return oil to 400°F over high heat. Fry half of potatoes until crisp and light golden brown, about 3 1/2 minutes, adjusting heat to maintain at around 360°F. Drain in a bowl lined with paper towels and season immediately with kosher salt. Cooked fries can be kept hot and crisp on a wire rack set on a sheet tray in a 200°F oven while second batch is cooked. Serve immediately.

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