Author: NewMexiKen

Worst idea of the day, so far

Imagine if Coca-Cola agreed to stock Pepsi in its vending machines.

While not a totally apt comparison, it begins to convey the upside-down sensation that came with Wednesday’s announcement that Apple Computer has introduced software that will allow the simple installation of Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system on Apple’s newest computers.

And now that we are thinking the unthinkable, here is one more: What if Microsoft decided to buy Apple?

Dealbook

As one commenter put it, if Microsoft bought Apple where would they (Microsoft) get their ideas?

Worst analogy of the day, so far

“[A]bout as popular as hobo-flavored mouthwash.”

— Dan Neil, in a review of the Honda Fit subcompact. He goes on to add:

I spent a week with the Fit Sport and my one-word review is “charming.” Our test car was equipped with the optional five-speed automatic with paddle-shift switches on the steering wheel, which makes the car drive just like a Formula 1 car, give or take 900 horsepower.

Macs do Windows, too

From an Apple Press Release:

Apple® today introduced Boot Camp, public beta software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Available as a download beginning today, Boot Camp allows users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac®, and once installation is complete, users can restart their computer to run either Mac OS® X or Windows XP. Boot Camp will be a feature in “Leopard,” Apple’s next major release of Mac OS X, that will be previewed at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in August.

How ’bout that?

Apple stock was up 9.84% on the day.

The message is the message

The Department of Homeland Security seems to be more in the entertainment business than anything likely to secure us in a time of emergency. For example, DHS has a new website, http://www.ready.gov/, complete with a whole new set of universal warning signs.

BoxSet.com discovered that, “The fun thing is that these pictures are so ambiguous they could mean anything!” and they offer a few interpretations.

Some are pretty funny.

Is Intellectual Property Law a Threat to Capitalism?

A thoughtful, worthwhile piece today from FunctionalAmbivalent on whether intellectual property law is going too far. An excerpt:

The purpose of patent protection, as laid-out in the Constitution, is promoting progress, not stifling it. By allowing companies to patent basic ideas like one-click ordering — rather than the underlying technology that makes one-click possible — we’re guaranteeing that improvements will reach consumers more slowly. It’s not, after all, possible for Amazon’s competitors to come up with a “zero click” technology.

There may not be a better example of how ridiculous this is getting than Netflix’ suit against Blockbuster.

Why is it?

Why is it that people are writing that at 01:02:03 this morning, that is, on 04/05/06, we had a set of numbers (01:02:03 04/05/06) we won’t see again for 1000 years?

How are they planning to note 01:02:03 of April 5, 2106? Isn’t that just 100 years? Won’t that be 01:02:03 04/05/06 too?

Booker T. Washington National Monument (Virginia)

… was established on April 2, 1956 (just before the 100th anniversary of Washington’s birth).

Booker T. Washington

On April 5, 1856, a child who later called himself Booker T. Washington, was born in slavery on this 207-acre tobacco farm. The realities of life as a slave in piedmont Virginia, the quest by African Americans for education and equality, and the post-war struggle over political participation all shaped the options and choices of Booker T. Washington. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881 and later became an important and controversial leader of his race at a time when increasing racism in the United States made it necessary for African Americans to adjust themselves to a new era of legalized oppression.

— Booker T. Washington National Monument

It’s the birthday

… of Gale Storm. My Little Margie is 84. That TV series ran 1952-1955. Storm’s real name was neither Gale, nor Margie (nor Susanna Pomeroy). It was Josephine Cottle.

… of Colin Powell. He’s 69. As NewMexiKen exited my office in 2001, I nearly ran into Secretary Powell and Condoleezza Rice walking down the hall after leaving one of Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force meetings. Powell is one of eight Secretaries of State that I’ve met or seen, but the only one I almost knocked down.

… of Michael Moriarty. He’s 65. Moriarty has won three Emmy awards, but none for playing Ben Stone in Law and Order despite five nominations. NewMexiKen liked Moriarty best as Henry “Author” Wiggen in Bang the Drum Slowly (with Robert De Niro). The IMDB mini biography for Moriarty says he’s 6-feet-4. Interestingly, the mini biography was written by Michael Moriarty.

Spencer Tracy was born on this date in 1900. Tracy was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar nine times and won twice, for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. Tracy died in 1967.

Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born on this date in 1908. As Bette Davis she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar 11 times, winning for Dangerous and Jezebel. Davis died in 1989.

Conductor Herbert von Karajan was also born on this date in 1908 and he, too, died in 1989.

Gregory Peck was born on this date in 1916. Peck was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar five times, winning for To Kill a Mockingbird. Mr. Peck also won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Peck died in 2003.

Joseph Lister was born on this date in 1827. His principle that bacteria must never enter a surgical incision was a breakthrough for modern surgery. Lister died in 1912.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (North Carolina)

… was established on this date in 1941.

The first English attempts at colonization in the New World (1585-1587) are commemorated here. These efforts, sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh, ended with the disappearance of 116 men, women and children (including two that were born in the New World). The fate of this “lost colony” remains a mystery to this day. The Park was established in 1941, and enlarged in 1990 by Public Law 1001-603 to include the preservation of Native American culture, The American Civil War, the Freedman’s Colony, and the activities of radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden.

— Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site (Massachusetts)

… was established on this date in 1968.

Saugus Iron Works

This is the site of the first integrated ironworks in North America, 1646-1668. It includes the reconstructed blast furnace, forge, rolling mill, and a restored seventeenth century house.

With the archeological site of the seventeenth-century iron-making plant, the museum collection, the seventeenth-century Iron Works House, and the reconstructed iron works complex, Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site illustrates the critical role of iron making to seventeenth-century settlement and its legacy in shaping the early history of the nation. The site’s enclave setting on the Saugus River, featuring an open-air museum with working waterwheels, evokes a unique experience for park visitors. These resources demonstrate seventeenth-century engineering and design methods, iron-making technology and operations, local and overseas trade, and life and work in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

— Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site

How I Work: Bill Gates

Bill Gates describes his desktop:

If you look at this office, there isn’t much paper in it. On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you’ll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.

The screen on the left has my list of e-mails. On the center screen is usually the specific e-mail I’m reading and responding to. And my browser is on the right-hand screen. This setup gives me the ability to glance and see what new has come in while I’m working on something, and to bring up a link that’s related to an e-mail and look at it while the e-mail is still in front of me.

At Microsoft, e-mail is the medium of choice, more than phone calls, documents, blogs, bulletin boards, or even meetings (voicemails and faxes are actually integrated into our e-mail in-boxes).

I get about 100 e-mails a day. We apply filtering to keep it to that levele-mail comes straight to me from anyone I’ve ever corresponded with, anyone from Microsoft, Intel, HP, and all the other partner companies, and anyone I know. And I always see a write-up from my assistant of any other e-mail, from companies that aren’t on my permission list or individuals I don’t know. That way I know what people are praising us for, what they are complaining about, and what they are asking.

There’s more.

Gettysburg Battles Over Gambling

There’s another battle brewing in Gettysburg, and this one has to do with whether gambling is fitting and proper for the historic Pennsylvania community.

The area, site of the most decisive battle of the Civil War more than a century ago, is fighting over a proposal to build a 3,000- slot machine parlor about two miles from its center.

The New York Times

“These people have risen up to protest this really bad idea because they believe that this is a national historic treasure,” [Susan Star Paddock] said. “They believe that Gettysburg is sacred.”

Hear. Hear.

It’s the birthday

… of Maya Angelou. The poet is 78.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Read more Maya Angelou poetry (including the rest of “Phenomenal Woman”).

… of Craig T. Nelson. The voice of Mr. Incredible is 62. Nelson won an Emmy for Coach.

… of Steve Gatlin of The Gatlin Brothers. He’s 55.

Led by Larry Gatlin, the Gatlin Brothers are one of the most popular country groups in the music’s history. Adopting the close harmony vocal techniques of the Louvins and the Everlys to the highly polished country-pop era, Larry and the Gatlin Brothers scored a number of hits during the ’70s and ’80s. Often, the group walked the line between intricate, inventive country and pure commercial material, which resulted in strong sales but occasionally poor reviews. (allmusic)

All the gold in California
Is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills
In somebody else’s name

… of Robert Downey Jr. The Oscar-nominee (for Chaplin) is 41.

… of Heath Ledger. The Oscar-nominee is 27.

Anthony Perkins was born on this date in 1932. Tony Perkins is best known for his portrayal of Norman Bates in Psycho but he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Friendly Persuasion. Perkins died in 1992 as a result of pnuemonia brought on by AIDS.

Muddy Waters

… was born on this date in 1915. His real name was McKinley Morganfield.

The following is excerpted from Waters’ obituary written by Robert Palmer in The New York Times, May 1, 1983:

Beginning in the early 1950’s, Mr. Waters made a series of hit records for Chicago’s Chess label that made him the undisputed king of Chicago blues singers. He was the first popular bandleader to assemble and lead a truly electric band, a band that used amplification to make the music more ferociously physical instead of simply making it a little louder.

In 1958, he became the first artist to play electric blues in England, and while many British folk-blues fans recoiled in horror, his visit inspired young musicians like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones, who later named their band the Rolling Stones after Mr. Waters’s early hit “Rollin’ Stone.” Bob Dylan’s mid-1960’s rock hit “Like a Rolling Stone” and the leading rock newspaper Rolling Stone were also named after Mr. Waters’s original song. …

But Muddy Waters was more than a major influence in the pop music world. He was a great singer of American vernacular music, a vocal artist of astonishing power, range, depth, and subtlety. Among musicians and singers, his remarkable sense of timing, his command of inflection and pitch shading, and his vocabulary of vocal sounds and effects, from the purest falsetto to grainy moaning rasps, were all frequent topics of conversation. And he was able to duplicate many of his singing techniques on electric guitar, using a metal slider to make the instrument “speak” in a quivering, voice-like manner.

His blues sounded simple, but it was so deeply rooted in the traditions of the Mississippi Delta that other singers and guitarists found it almost impossible to imitate it convincingly. “My blues looks so simple, so easy to do, but it’s not,” Mr. Waters said in a 1978 interview. “They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play.”

Mac’s Moment?

From a report in the Wall Street Journal:

Japan’s Aozora Bank Ltd. is planning to do something once unheard of in the business world: switch nearly all of its 2,300 desktop personal computers to Apple Computer Inc.’s Macintosh computers.

Most companies use PCs that run on some version of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. But in a multi-year effort to replace its outdated mishmash of computers — most running older versions of Windows — Aozora is forsaking the standard PC.

A third of the company’s computers already are Macs — including sleek iMac computers that combine a screen and hard drive in one unit with a camera perched atop that allows employees to videoconference. Within a few months, Aozora expects about 90% of its machines will be Macs.

NewMexiKen’s own transition from Windows to Mac these past two months hasn’t been without friction, but I wouldn’t consider anything but a Mac now.

Live blogging the NCAA championship

NewMexiKen likes Clark Kellogg but hasn’t anyone told him he has a microphone and need not shout. (7:12 PM)

Everyone is picking Florida. Not NewMexiKen. (7:14 PM)

The High Definition picture from the RCA Dome is awesome, but why not introduce the starters from each team all at once rather than this first one from Florida, then one from UCLA silliness? It’s a team sport. (7:20 PM)

I guess UCLA realizes this won’t be another LSU game. (7:29 PM — Florida 11 UCLA 6)

Watching that dunk and hearing that Hollins is 21 of 23 for the tournament reminds me of Bill Walton’s great performance when he went 21 of 22 for the championship game. Dunks were not allowed at that time! (7:40 PM)

Vintage Billy Packer, talking about UCLA’s foul shooting percentage while a Florida player shoots. (7:42 PM)

General Motors seems more intent on saving jobs in the advertising industry than the jobs of the men and women who build their automobiles. (7:47 PM)

UCLA’s Lorenzo Mata: If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three — blown layup, blown shot, stupid foul. (7:55 PM)

Nance and Packer: “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Endless blather. [You’d think they were bloggers.] (7:56 PM)

The reason it’s just Poseidon this time and not the Poseidon Adventure is because Shelley Winters isn’t in the remake. Rest in Peace Mrs. Rosen. (8:06 PM)

Do any of these Florida players with famous fathers also have mothers? (8:11 PM)

Half time. (8:16 PM)

A close friend has Florida in her office brackets, so I’ve decided I really should root for the Gators. (8:40 PM — Florida 39 UCLA 25)

45 seconds of basketball. 120 seconds of commercials. Wonderful. (9:15 PM)

Cool cap on Bill Russell (he wore number 6 with the Boston Celtics). (9:20 PM)

Holy crap. He didn’t just walk, he ran the Marathon. (9:28 PM)

1:17 left and Nance and Packer are still talking trivia. Shut up and savor guys, savor. (9:30 PM)

Congratulations to Florida. Great performance. (9:34 PM)