…but enjoying it greatly nonetheless. I’ve had a laptop since it was my sole computer: a Titanium MacBook circa 2001 or so (550 MHz, 20GB HD). The past several years it’s been an occasional internet music streamer or portable DVD player and not much else. I didn’t have a wireless set-up (years ago had an early Airport which had since been sold) and hadn’t replaced the ancient original battery in the laptop (which made it impractical for remote use — if you wanted more than 15 minutes you needed to be near a plug).
But within the past week or two I’ve invested about $90 in a new battery, about $60 for an 11g card — the highest it will take (less the $50 rebate I’ll get for turning in the old 11a card), and about $99 for an Airport Express (11n out) wireless device.
On the “out and about” end of things, I’ve recently had one and will have another client meeting using the laptop.
But to the genesis of this post. I am lying back in M’s hammock in the shade of the pergola in the back garden, browsing inspiration sites to generate some trains of thought for a new (self) project, listening to birds twitter and coo whilst watching the leaves tremble in the gentle breezes.
I think I’ve “got” this laptop thing you’ve spoken about, D.
That old skill that Obama honed at the Harvard Law Review of listening until everyone at the table felt they had been heard (and agreed with) is coming in handy on his presidential dress rehearsal. [...] The Angry One can try to paint The One as having bad judgment. But who is being advised by Kissinger, the man who helped keep us in Vietnam and get us into Iraq?
On my new “sport utility bicycle” I can cart groceries, take my kids shopping, haul a barbecue grill and make a margarita. [...] “To test whether I could abandon my four-wheel behemoth, I spent a week trying to do my errands using my new SUB. I aimed high right out of the gate: the family grocery trip to Trader Joe’s.” (Article has movie, too, and link to Xtracycle.)
In the US, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network has struck a deal with McDonald’s, which has bought the right to have two cups of their branded frappuccino appear on the desk in front of the anchors on Fox 5 News.
For years, it’s been a national embarrassment. Over the past year, it’s spiraled into a crisis damaging Italy’s image all over the world: the heaps of garbage lining the streets of Naples.
The stench alone has kept many visitors away. It began more than 14 years ago, but flared up last year when official dumps were declared full. Residents with no options simply dumped their trash along streets and sidewalks.
[Berlusconi]: “Just think: 60 percent of the total garbage collected in this area is made up of packaging, which is recyclable. So for this we have an education program which will start in the schools and will reach the whole population.”
So, I didn’t .. erm .. spend enough time on social networky sorts of things. Now I’ve joined Seesmic. Been described as like Twitter or Friendfeed but with video. Sort of.
What do they have in common. First, an explanation: I went to post in my “Emma’s Friends” (Mac enthusiast) blog and discovered it gone. I am puzzled. (a) My last post was early June — about a month ago, (b) I apparently DL a complete backup of the domain it was on in January, but the MySQL files were empty. However, I vaguely remember going on a mad sweeping binge some few weeks back when I was installing Pu..po.. {whatsitcalled?} ProjectPier and I may’ve discarded it. …Which doesn’t explain (b), but … Life Is Ephemeral
I’m on a decluttering binge right now. I’m tossing out, selling and giving away the ’stuff’ I don’t need. I want the objects around me to be useful, and if possible, beautiful. This glass wasn’t one of the things I wanted to remove from my life. The breakage reminds me to keep in sight not only all the stuff I don’t want in my life, but a clear image of what I do want.
I wouldn’t mind having an open account at Chelsea Green, publishers, whom I follow on Twitter @chelseagreen … See this latest which highlights a book by Charles Dowding, “Salad Leaves for All Seasons”. The post includes a great YouTube video describing successful ways to get the most leaves from your garden. I rather failed at that this year, not taking time to do any seedlings. And I do envy him his greenhouse.
I’ve always wanted a place to deal with my failed CD burns or (remember?) AOL mailings. This CD Recycling Center does accept CDs and DVDs and is trying to build up a full-country network.
And in closing, Opacity photographs “urban ruins”…something that’s always fascinated me for an unknown reason. I think I had some other sites in a previous blog… Hmm. Ah, well. All is fleeting and decays.
In the Washington Post, an article on “The Impassive Bystander“. We - most markedly when in a group - shrug off responsibility for helping. Two recent examples to be added to Kitty Genovese, et al.
And from NY Times: the push up is the “put up or shut up”, “got it or don’t”.
Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up tests.