A Queer Mobile

My iMac

Paul Graham's posting, Return of the Mac, points out the renewed interest in Macintoshes among computer science/hacker types. I've not done any software development yet on my new iMac, but I've been completely delighted in how it performs.

Digging in the garden

It was fabulous weather yesterday. John and I hit the trail by the river yesterday morning. In the afternoon I started seeds indoors for transplanting later and dug out trash from last year's garden. My hope is that my seedlings will be transplantable about the time that frost danger passes in late April or early May.

The crocuses (croci?) are up and beautiful.

I'm entering blogs about gardening in Queer Eats and Smart Health, my companion blog to this one. Check out my progress there...

Is it smart to be selective?

Being behind the times I'd missed the ongoing discussion about the long tail. As this Techdirt (title: More expensive to evaluate than to release) posting notes, trying to evaluate the merit of various products can be counter-productive. As the posting says, the average Barnes & Noble store stocks 130,000 different items. But Amazon.com makes half of their money on items that aren't in the most popular 130,000 items that they stock. The long tail - the market value of items that don't appear to be vital commercially - actually makes for a good business. This second Techdirt posting
(Techdirt:USA Today Realizes That Kids Don't Listen To The Radio Any More) pokes at the heart of the music industry attempting - and failing - to decide what people want to listen to. If people have the choice, they'll often pick something else.

But selectivity is the heart of good design. BusinessWeek's article on Apple's design innovation focuses on how that organization picks the very best designs and product lines from a wide range of possible products. The key: having people in charge of the organization with an intense focus on design. While other organizations focus on outsourcing innovation to save money, Apple treats selective design as fundamental.

New Scientist 13 things that do not make sense

This article in New Scientist 13 things that do not make sense is a delight. The authors assemble thirteen different stories in science - everything from cold fusion returning to the physical manifestation of the placebo effect to a study that shows that homeopathy may actually work - and provide links to research in each area.

The Anti-Carly

Since Carly Fiorina's departure from HP, I've read a number of articles that attempt to make the matter look like a sexual discrimination matter. I don't think so.

The Wall Street Journal posted a commentary titled The Imperial CEO is No More that gives an overview of the fall of a number of CEOs who seemed more interested in their self-promotion than in developing and growing a company. A refreshing article -  WSJ.com - Meet Meg Whitman . . . (subscription required) takes a peek at a very different female CEO, one whom I admire very much. She's the antithesis of the Imperial attitude. And good for eBay that they won't lose her to Disney.

Setting up my iMac and a walk along the river

A friend installed an iMac last January and I've had lust for one ever since. I bit the bullet and sent my order off to Apple in early March. It arrived last Friday. Since then I've rearranged my office and been figuring out how to integrate it best into my life. I'm turning it into my creativity machine: photography and imaging and music development. I've been very happy so far running Photoshop CS on it. I also bought an Ozonic MIDI keyboard that attaches directly over FireWire. I've ordered an upgrade to Propellerhead's Reason 3.0 soft synth. I've used Reason on my Windows systems, but this upgrade looks very cool. So far I couldn't be happier, and it's the best designed machine I've ever used.

I've not been totally in my office hermitage this weekend, though. It's brilliant and cold here. John and I managed our 4.5 mile walk along the Cedar River this morning. There were two other souls out walking. Our only other companions were the ducks and geese floating by as you can see in this shot I took with my Nikon D70. There's very little ice remaining on the river.

Learning from religious conservatives

Salon posted this article on what would Falwell do? It takes a look at how religious conservatives have successfully developed a political strategy that religious progressives have not been able to match.

See a cyclone on Mars

Check out this picture of a cyclone on Mars. Apparently the orbiting surveyor probes have seen dust storms on Mars, but this is the first time one of the Mars rovers has photographed one. This animated image shows you the best view of the storm, which is otherwise tough to see.

Drug-resistant HIV not so unusual?

I was most interested in this article on PlanetOut which looks at some backpedaling in the scientific community about the  multi-drug resistant HIV strain that got such press a few weeks ago. Not surprisingly the press conference seems now to have been about generating media attention for the doctors on the case as for anything particularly new and menacing.

Miss Cleo rides again...

And I thought they put Miss Cleo away for fraud. Turns out the Wisconsin DMV was directing motorists to call a psychic hot line. Wonder if they knew that was coming...