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Question: What's your favorite TLA?

My Answer: WTF?

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Carey told me yesterday that Presque Isle State Park is the most visited state park in the country. I didn't quite believe it, but she pointed out that it's free to visit, unlike most other parks (like Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Olympic, and Yellowstone - the actual five most visited US National Parks), and even if 90% of the traffic is Erie residents who visit three or more times per week, they still count each time they visit.

Turns out she was making it all up, but anyway…

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This piece at Ars is entertaining, but it falls well short of its billing:

If you've been following the Apple-to-Intel transition, you're going to want to read this whole article. Why? Because I'm going to do something that I almost never do: spill insider information from unnamed sources that I can confirm are in a position to know the score.

Yeah, that doesn't happen, and if you check out the message boards you'll see several other people notice this as well.

Question: What's your favorite piece of Mac memorabilia?

My Answer: It's more Apple memorabilia, but I dig my eMate 300. Still works. If I'm restricting the answer strictly to Mac memorabilia, then I'm going to have to go with my case cracker for the original Mac. Not a ton of those still around.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I've been thinking about how nice it would be to have an intercom system in my house. I'd put an intercom in the basement, the kitchen, the living room, and at least one room upstairs (though possibly in two).

Currently, I've got about as many AirPort base stations or AirPort Expresses.

Why hasn't Apple combined the two? Imagine a "plug and play" type intercom where each intercom unit - buy as many as you like - is also an AirPort base station. If AirPorts already decrypt compressed and encrypted signals (for AirTunes), about all that would be required is the addition of a button (press to talk), a little speaker, and a little microphone.

Or just let me plug something into the USB port!

Seems like this thing would work pretty well. I'd buy two more AirPort Expresses (and the USB mic/speaker) or AirPort Intercoms (the made up name I've got for this product).

Question: Do you still want to see a tablet Mac? Why or why not?

My Answer: I'd pay $1500 right now for a 17" tablet Mac. It should offer a 17" display (though I'd take 15" if the resolution was good). It should have USB ports for those who want to use a keyboard/mouse, but a screen that accepts (I had to look this up it's been so long) Inkwell (or Ink) is a must. It should use a low-power chip and offer a place for perhaps a CompactFlash card for storage - or people could just use their iPod Shuffles (Gasp!).

Basically, I want a way to use my desktop computer wirelessly and locally without having to sit at my desk. I could buy a new PowerBook, yes, but I don't like having to have two sets of files on two different computers. I want to have one computer and use it throughout my house. PowerBooks are also less powerful, have smaller screens (sometimes my 23" is important), require frequent charging, and get too damn hot on your lap.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Should there be an age limit to play professional sports?

My Answer: I think that an age limit of 18 - the age at which you can be legally bound to a contract - is all that's needed, and I'd also like to see exceptions made on a case-by-case basis. Morgan Pressel finished tied for second a few weeks ago at the U.S. Women's Open (golf) and is only 17, but is the country's top-ranked amateur. She should be allowed to turn pro. Michelle Wie? I'd make her wait until she was at least 17. NFL, NBA, and MLB players? If you can buy porn, you can play sports. A job is a job, after all (which, yes, I realize would mean that my argument should be 16 or even 15, but I'm sticking with the "contract" thing. You don't sign a contract to work at McDonald's).

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

You know, I've gotta side with John on this one.

As a parent (hey, I can say that now!), I believe in teaching kids to be responsible and in being responsible myself. Part of that responsibility is knowing what my kids are up to and preparing them for the things they're going to encounter in the real world. If the censors have their way, "the real world" would scare an 18-year-old to death after living a sheltered, nudity-, cussing-, hate-, evil-, violence-, crime-free sheltered shell of a life.

Heaven forbid we have a little accountability in this damn country.

Question: If I gave you $1,000,000,000 to invest in "energy research" and told you that for that sum of money you had to come up with a valid alternative to fossil fuels, how would you spend the money?

My Answer: I'd spend it all on myself and then tell people to drive less. Just kidding… I'd invest the money into research of hydrogen as a fuel source. It's a helluva lot more dangerous than gas, but it's also a lot cleaner, cheaper, and powerful. I'd let any existing cars continue to run on gasoline as long as they are, but I believe that by 2010, every new car sold could run on hydrogen if we invested $1B today.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: How has President Bush performed in his second term relative to your expectations of him? In other words, I don't want to hear anything about John Kerry - only about how Bush has performed relative to how you thought he would once you knew he had been re-elected.

My Answer: He's performed about as well as I could have imagined. If I had to vote again, I'd make the same choice.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

How in the hell a dog park that's not even open yet can be voted "Best of Erie" is beyond me. Then again, perhaps the fact that it's Erie is all I need to know.

About a mile from my house sits a fairly newly erected Erie Humane Society. It was voted, two months ago, as "Best of Erie" for its public dog park. The dog park remains closed to the public.

I called today and was told "try calling back at the end of the month, we might be open then." I asked what could ever be the problem, and was told that they were having some problems with "security." Specifically, the gates.

I asked them if I could volunteer some time, because I'm close, to help them get up to speed. She laughed and hung up the phone. Doesn't the humane society rely heavily on volunteers? What the heck?

Friggin' Erie, I tell ya. I like it for a lot of reasons, but voting something "Best of Erie" when it's not even open is typical Erie, too.

I've long said that this blog is "mine" and that I write here solely for my purposes. Posts here contain my thoughts, my opinions, and my point of view. I've not shied away from writing personal things in the past, and with this, I've decided not to do so in the near future either.

Last night I had to ask my father to leave my home. Carey's parents and my parents joined us for a small Independence Day cookout. My dad got riled up about an incident that happened over 15 years ago, began to make rude comments, and I had to ask him to leave. That synopsis doesn't do the event justice, so I'll tell it in full below. Feel free to skip this one, folks.

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It turns out I was written up in the Sunday paper for something. In the business section. Something I have been hoping to announce for the past few weeks, and something I continue to hope to announce soon. But those who live in Erie, PA, already know what that thing is. You can register for free to figure out what it is, but I haven't even done so - I don't trust the local paper with my information or email address, and it's really nothing worth reading anyway.

For me, well, it was a nice little writeup, even with the one quote taken out of context. I was quoted as being the "Mac guy in Pennsylvania" (as if I was the only one). While I am one, the full quote was that I am "just a Mac guy in Erie, PA - not the most technologically advanced town in the country." Or something like that…

Some other small factual mistakes were made, like the spelling of PulpFiction (it had a space in it). I've got a quibble or two about the fact that PulpFiction was described as being an "Internet-based program" (it's a desktop app that uses the Internet), but I appreciate the fact that what is a quibble to a geek makes no difference to a normal person. I also appreciate the issue of "column length."

Question: How many kids do you want?

My Answer: I'm plenty happy with the 1½ that I have now. Flint can be left alone for a few hours at a time, thus accounting for the ½, and I can't imagine a better kid than Little One. Though she's not my own, I'm married to her mother and am her "step-dad" regardless of the genetics. Besides, what's so horribly wrong with spoiling a kid? 😀

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Spotted somewhere near the vicinity of my clipboard:

The sport of choice for the urban poor is basketball. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is bowling. The sport of choice for front-line workers is football. The sport of choice for supervisors is baseball. The sport of choice for middle management is tennis. The sport of choice for corporate officers is golf. Conclusion: The higher you are in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become. -Author Unknown

Hardy har har. A cheap joke, but surprisingly true in many respects.