obfuscated.org

Let me just give a brief shout out to the Boston Police Department. You’re the best. Thanks for keeping America safe from the Mooninites.

Cartoon Brew has a fascinating look at a Disney employee manual from 1943. It’s well worth a read just for the sense of how alien 1943’s workplace would seem to people today. The artwork is great as well.

The overwhelming majority of junk eating that I do happens at lunch. Here are some Metafilter threads on packing lunches that I might actually eat:

• peanut butter, i think i hate you…
• I’m tired of plain sandwiches and pasta salad
• PackMyLunchFilter!
• SalationSalvation from Super-Sizing!

PC World published an article listing 15 reasons to switch to Vista. I imagine that the article is aimed at XP users rather than Mac or Linux users. Still, I wonder how many of their reasons are compelling to the likes of me.

1. It’s the Interface, Stupid

So it’s “transparent animated windows,” “subtle and elegant colors” and “a new Start menu?” I don’t know about “animated,” but I already have “transparent” (although I don’t use it.) Unless they’ve gotten rid of the Start menu (in favor of something more like Quicksilver) it’s still not good enough, and I’m pretty sure that you could duplicate the same “subtle and elegant colors” on any windowing system if you choose to do so.

2. Flip Over Windows Flip 3D

Apparently the Alt-Tab behavior in Vista does some sort of three-dee flippady-do thing. Which sounds like a gaudy take on Expose. Which I already have.

3. Live Thumbnails

This actually sounds pretty neat. Hover over a window on the Taskbar and a live (that is: with the actual content from the window) thumbnail pops up. That said: Expose already covers this.

4. Boost Performance With ReadyBoost

Cute. It loads programs you use often in to ram such that they start quickly. Sort of like the Office Quick Start or whatever it was called from a few years back. Thing is, the applications I use frequently are already in memory. That’s sort of how memory on a computer works. Oh well. At least they’re trying.

5. Cool Performance Tools

This reads like a non-ugly PerfMon replacement. Given that I’m satisfied with the likes of “top” and “iostat,” I’m unlikely to be swayed by this.

6. Better Security

Remember, this is better relative to XP. So this isn’t saying much.

7. Find Anything Fast With Search

Oh, like Spotlight? Already have it.

8. Nifty Software Gadgets

Oh, like Dashboard? Already have it.

9. Better Wireless Networking

The only problems I ever have with wireless networking are caused by me upgrading the firmware on the AP and telling it to do all sorts of stupid things. (This is a round-about way of saying “I break the AP when I screw with it.”) I guess the wireless networking in XP was lacking somehow?

10. Map Your Network

Hey, finally something that I’d use! I like this feature. Although it sounds more like a userland application than it does a core OS service.

11. Better Graphics With Windows Photo Gallery

Oh, like iPhoto? Already have it.

12. Become a Director With Windows Movie Maker

Oh, like iMovie? Already have it.

13. Better Notebook Support

Presumably notebook support was lacking under XP. Works for me.

14. File Sharing and Syncing

I’m sure that I’d have more to say about this if I ever did workgroup networking. I don’t, but I remember it always being a little bit harder than it had to be to do correctly. If Vista makes it easier, I’ll count that as a good thing.

15. Protect Your Kids With Parental Controls

I wonder how well this works. Content filtering isn’t a trivial problem — although I’ve seen very good approaches to the problem (of course those solutions were ignored by my former employer, but that’s neither here nor there) — and I wonder if Microsoft solves it particularly well in the OS or not. Either way, it’s not the approach I take to my son using a computer, so I’m not really swayed by this.

There is no number 16

Well, that turned out to be a little more smug than I thought it would. Perhaps I need to get a $1,000 hoodie and start making fun of John Hodgman. Still, it’s hard to think that Microsoft isn’t a day late and a dollar short here. An “I already have it” list could be easily put together for Linux and probably XP for that matter. Way to go, Microsoft.

That said, they’re bound to sell millions of copies of it, so perhaps I’ll be buying some of that Microsoft stock.

When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,
He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;
But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu’ sprush,
We’ll over the border, and gie them a brush;
There’s somebody there we’ll teach better behaviour,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

(Note: Happy Birthday to the good Doctor Barber as well!)

(Further Note: A Blackadder bottled ‘91 Springbank is the order of the day.)

TNT announces the starters for the NBA all-star game tomorrow night. The results are usually predictable. Line up the players by shoe contract amount take the first two guards, forwards and one center from each conference and you’ve got your five for each side. A favorite pastime of both knowledgeable pundits and pointless homer fans like myself is declaring what the starting five for each side should be. I shall not let this duty slide.

Eastern Conference

Guards: Gilbert Arenas and Jason Kidd

Arenas is this year’s Kobe, shooting bad shot after bad shot but making them in what’s bound to be a futile effort. Damn is it fun to watch. Kidd passed Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time triple-double list this year. That’s got to be worth something.

I pass on Dwyane Wade because from the games I’ve seen, all he can do is get to the stripe. Corey Maggette would be an all-star if that was important. I’d like to see him play a game where the refs treated him like the rest of the players and didn’t give him everything that even looks sort of like a little bit of a foul.

Forwards: LeBron James and Emeka Okafor

He’s no Jordan, and honestly I don’t think he’s even Kobe. Still, LeBron is a force of nature. He’s as fast as a 2 and as big as a 4, he can shoot, he can post up, and he’s watched a lot of tape of people playing defense. Okafor is, I think, the single most overlooked player in the east. 11 boards anf three blocks a night? That’s crazy talk. Plus his name is Emeka. Seriously.

I’m really put out that Paul Pierce has been hurt all year. Otherwise it would have been kind of fun to start him at the 3 and LeBron at the 4. What would the west have done? (Hint: win anyway.)

Center: Dwight Howard

He’s half Amare and half Shaq. He easily wins the Will Dunk On Anybody award for this year. I think he’ll be the dominant center in the league three years from now.

Western Conference

Guards: Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant

Nash is the two time league MVP, and some horrible crime will have been committed if he’s not the MVP again this year. He’s the best point guard that I’ve ever seen play (Note: I didn’t start watching the NBA until after Magic, so….). It’s a pity that there’s no chance that he’ll be voted in to start. Bryant has been the top talent in the league for years, but he’s played like an ass. This year: not so much. Several of his team mates are having career years, he’s shooting less, and the team is winning more.

Forwards: Kevin Garnette and Carmello Anthony

Garnette pretty well has a lifetime pass for the all-star game. Too bad he doesn’t play on a real team. Despite doing 15 games for brawling, Anthony is one of the best scorers in the league and demonstrated during the world championship that he’s actually interested in competing. Besides, I feel fine admitting one bone head out of ten. Also, maybe he’ll throw a punch at Wade.

(Edit: yes, I forgot to mention Dirk here. Yes, he should start in front of either Garnette or Anthony. Sorry, Cuban.)

Center: Amare Stoudemire

Mehmet Okur and Marcus Camby are probably having better seasons statistically, and Chris Kaman wins on pure oh my god what kind of a freak is he points. I’d really like to spend a game watching Stoudemire and Howard dunk on each other, though. It’d be fun. Plus he plays well with Nash.

Well, there you have it: my totally uninformed list of the all-star game starters. Stay tuned to find out how many I guessed correctly. (Hint: 2)

“I buy Apple products. It just makes me feel special.”

   Joan M’Benga, ethnic looking clip-art model

Too funny.

I’m not a big gadget guy, so I’m not terribly moved by the iPhone or all the buzz it’s causing. Jason Kottke’s iPhone round up contains this bit, however, that is absolutely hilarious:

The price is pretty high. So was the price for the first iPod. And the Macintosh. Apple will approach this in a similar way to the iPod…start with a premium product at the high end and work their way down to shuffle-land. It isn’t difficult to imagine an iPhone nano that just does voice, SMS, music, and a camera. (Or an iPhone shuffle…you press the call button and it randomly calls someone from the ten contacts the shuffle synched from your computer that morning.)

Anyway, good times.

Somebody please fill me in on what all this “below freezing” noise is about. I live in Southern California, in one of the valleys. It’s not supposed to get that cold.

I’m totally going to grill tomorrow night if it snows, by the way.