08 Sep 2004
Superior Service

Well, I've had my first problem with an Apple computer. The optical drive in my Powerbook G4 died, rendering me unable to view DVD's or use CD's on the machine.

Most of the time, I have no real use for either function, but since I had ponyed up the extra $250 for their extended warranty when I purchased the machine a year ago, I figured I'd better just have it fixed. Besided I was going to be in Indy anyway, so I could just drop it off at the local Apple Store. I figured I'd just have to do without a laptop for a few weeks.

I was pleasently surprised. My diagnosis of the problem was correct, and yes, they'd have to send it back to the factory for repairs (common with laptops of any variety) but they went above and beyond the call of duty here: they provided me with a loaner laptop! Cloned my hard drive off to it, so I have all my software and music, too.

Apple has consistantly surprised me with their attention to detail over the course of the past two years - and this now extends to their service department as well. My only complaint: they weren't open on Labor Day! But with this level of service, I think I'll overlook that minor annoyance.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Bright Lights, Burning City

I've got to make it out to this someday, if for no other reason than to say I've been there.

This year's Burning Man festival was alive with light all day and all night, as luminescent art and wild displays of fire lit the desert skies. Daniel Terdiman reports from Black Rock City, Nevada.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Technology | 1 comment | permanent link

Having children significantly lowers parents’ IQs

Very funny article - in fact, the whole site is pretty funny. Kinda like a local Onion.

A five-year study run by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction proves what many in the scientific community have always suspected: having children significantly lowers the IQ of both male and female parents.

(link) [Hoosier Gazette]

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Bush Blames 'Junk Lawsuits' for Job Woes (AP)

My distaste for trial lawyers has been well documented here, but to place the blame on them for the decline of the American economy in recent years is a ludicrous exaggeration that even a well known hyperbole expert such as myself would have a hard time making with a straight face. Apparently, our President has no such qualms... Kerry (and most ecoonomists) are correct in pointing out that it's changes to Federal tax policy that have suddenly made outsourcing a more viable option for white collar jobs.

But there's a another interesting factoid buried in here:

When Kerry claims that the nation has lost 1.6 million private sector jobs during the Bush administration, he does not include government jobs. Nonfarm payrolls are down 913,000 since Bush took office when growth in federal, state and local government jobs is included in the total.

Read carefully between the lines here: Bush, the limited government conservative candidate, has presided over the addition of nearly a million government jobs. Not to mention the soaring deficit.

What's wrong with this picture?

AP - President Bush and rival John Kerry on Tuesday offered different ways to boost the sluggish job market, the president calling for legal reforms to help workers and businesses while his Democratic opponent proposed ending tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas.

(link) [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

The Homework That the Student Ate

Ah, the brown bag lunch! Brings back memories...

I think I was in 8th grade when I finally got my "revenge" on my friend Scott. I always brought two peanut butter and jelly sandwichs to school, and he'd been begging at least a half of one off me for years (he was a larger kid, and apparently his mom didn't pack his lunch large enough).

This was annoying, to say the least. So one day I convinced my mom that I really wanted something different: I wanted a couple of potted meat food product sandwichs. It's actually pretty good, but it looks, like, well, I'll get to that, and if you do decide to try it by no means should you read the ingredients.

So when lunch came and Scott begged for my "extra" sandwich, I gave it to him cheerfully. The whole thing, in fact. He whomped it right down, too, only stopping at the end to ask what it was.

"Ken-L Ration", I answered.

He barfed on the table. The school nurse sent him home, and the principal sent me to detention. His mom called my mom that night, and I was grounded for a week.

Scott and I remained good friends, but he never begged another sandwich off me again.

Along with ashtrays in the teachers lounge and dodge ball, the days of the homemade bag lunch seem to be numbered, as school cafeteria meals become more sophisticated and as pressure on working moms and dads cuts into precious morning hours.

(link) [New York Times]

via My Apple Menu

00:00 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

New Technology Estimates Fast-Food Demand (AP)

Developers have quite a sense of humor: they named the application "HyperActive Bob".

AP - Do you want fries with that? Never mind, we already know. A Pittsburgh startup, HyperActive Technologies Inc., is testing technology at area fast-food restaurants designed to give kitchen workers a good indication of what customers want before the hungry souls even get close enough to place an order.

(link) [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link