NSLog();

Anyone complaining about the cost of a computer these days needs to realize we've come a long way:

Released in March 1990, The Mac IIfx was the fastest Mac ever built at the time. It sold for $10,000 - $12,000, depending on configuration.

The computer I want always costs about $3,000-$3,500, whether it's a laptop or a desktop.

My paternal grandfather passed away today at 1:30pm. My mother informed me of this just now via AIM, perhaps because the phone would have given something away in her voice. Born in Poland on November 14, 1911, he earned a Purple Heart serving for the United States Army in World War II. He is survived by his wife Sophie and all of his children and grandchildren.

Suffice to say I'm not sure what I'll be doing the rest of the evening, but it seems like a good time to reflect on things.

Windows CeMeNT combines the strength of the three most powerful operating systems in the world into a solid (and I do mean solid) foundation for Wintellian computing in the 24th century. Oh wait, I mean the 21st. Or is it still the 20th? Anyway, this one was a little too good to pass up. At least they never released Windows POO or something. That'd be too easy.

Thanks to Heinrich for the image.

My last post on my grandpa was just a few days ago, but things haven't gotten any better. This email is from my father.

I don't know if you know mom, Karlye, Brad, and I visited my father last Sunday as he had been transferred from the hospital to a care facility with pneumonia. At that time he was extremely weak and could only speak with great effort. I just got a call from my brother Ed and dad has taken a turn for the worse and things are looking rather dire at this point. So be advised that you might be getting a call in the near future.

I'm not exactly struggling with the whole mortality thing - it happens, and one day I won't be around either. But it is unsettling. Combined with the apathy I tend to feel towards the end of the week, it's a pretty lousy day to get any work done.

I just realized that it's been nearly two years since we've gotten a new version of Internet Explorer. Two freakin' years! Actually, it's been longer if you count the version that shipped with public beta. Sure, we've had some security updates here and there, but where is IE 5.5 or 6.0? Over two years! That's a lifetime in software development, especially when Scot Hacker predicts that all major browsers will have RSS aggregation within six months. Good luck on that one! 🙂

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Macintosh
Happy birthday to you…

…and maaaaaany mooooooooore!

Today is the Mac's 19th birthday. As I sit here staring at my 23" LCD attached to a dual 800 MHz G4 with 1.5 GB RAM about 15 peripherals, all running on a Unix-based OS for which I am developing (on several platforms and levels, no less), I am thankful. This is, after all, one of the few birthdays in which the birthday boy is the one giving all the gifts.

I'm a big fan of AppleScript. After all, I do run AppleScript Central. So when things like this article pop up on the Web, I take note. Truth is, I've been using a similar AppleScript for a few weeks now (wow, Safari has been out that long?). Here it is:

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 232); »

Move some files to an empty trash can on Mac OS X. Hit cmd-Z (undo). The "empty trash" sound plays as if it just deleted your files! Luckily, they're simply moved back. Sure, the trash is "emptied" but not in a way that should play that sound!

Update: Blame Unsanity for their Xounds. It's what's doing it.

The picture at right is of Dave climbing out of view. I can't exactly call this "rock climbing" but it is wall climbing. Yesterday Gabe and I, along with three new recruits, went climbing in Ft. Lauderdale. You can see more pictures here. We've only gone 3 or 4 times, but it's pretty amazing how quickly you adjust to it. My fingers were barely able to grip a pen after the first time, and last night they felt nearly normal after 3 hours of climbing and belaying. Next week perhaps Kim will go…

I subscribe to a mailing list which is supposed to stay on one topic: Mac OS X. On this list, as on almost any mailing list, there are people whose opinions and thoughts simply don't matter to me and threads that run amok and stray off-topic. Much like this Nick Denton article, the comments on this particularl mailing list are often simply the stuff I don't want to see.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 545); »

A group of Vikings in the corner start a song: "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam!" If you're curious as to why it's called "spam" then check out that link. Yes, it has to do with Monty Python. Yes, the term has been around for quite a long time. Yes, I am starting a lot of sentences wih the word "yes." Yes, this will continue. Yes, I am done now.

Not more than about a week after I post about some Safari theme changer that should have been freeware (and now is) that cost $10 comes another example, this time setting you back $30! I don't even want to link to the damn thing, so I'll make the link as tiny as possible.

Guess what?

dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/diskn

or

rm -P filename

This kind of crap makes me want to write an $8 utility that does the same exact freaking thing, and then give away a copy to anyone who asks for it. In fact, I think I might do that. Expect to see something by Monday.

This little article is particularly interesting because I know a few Northwestern students. Weatherpop tells me it's currently 7 degrees in Evanston, IL - seems like a little "activity" might be a good way to warm up for the poor, "anon"ymous souls up there, Lightbox or not.

This article at news.com.com talks about "cybercriminal" Kevin Mitnick and his recent journey back onto the Internet. It also contains this gem:

Mitnick hopes to replace the laptops with a 17-inch Apple PowerBook. While he continues to play with computers and technology, he stressed that misusing them is something he will never do again.

Wouldn't that make an interesting switcher ad?

I've removed a paragraph and the link to the video, because of the massive MT bug.

The video was shot on a Sony DSR PD-150 as well as a cheap-o consumer camera. 15 hours of footage were condensed to the five minutes you'll see if you watch. Final Cut Pro, two pizzas, six Cokes (me), twelve beers (Rob, Scott, Gabe), and five hours were consumed in the creation of this bugger in Final Cut Pro. The video was exported as MPEG-4 and the audio is AAC compressed.

(Addendum: Due to what appears to be a massive bug in MovableType, I've had to remove the .mov from the server. I'll explain more later.)