Month: August 2002

‘Happy Mac’ Killed By Jaguar. The Macintosh operating system’s corny but somewhat loveable startup icon appears to be a victim of the latest upgrade. And Apple doesn’t want to discuss it. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

bq. Happy Mac was jettisoned to appease the aesthetics of Steve Jobs who has wanted for a long time to dump the “smirking symbol,” sources close to Apple programmers confirmed.

That’s pretty typical–another symbol of the Mac OS gets “Steved.” Apple’s official response (on page 2 of the article) reads like advertising copy.

Federal government’s bookkeeping needs fixing, too. “There’s been a lot of sanctimonious finger-waving in Congress at corporate CEOs and much of it is hypocritical,” said Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, which promotes lower federal taxes and spending.

The financial statements of many federal agencies are in such dismal shape that the General Accounting Office (GAO) — the investigative arm of Congress that audits federal accounts — has been unable to provide an opinion on the government’s finances for the past five years. [startribune.com]

The government has no incentive to be careful about their finances. It’s not like it’s their money–if they run out, they can always steal more.

Mac OS 9.2 Lives, For A Pittance [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion]

bq. The rep stated that phases 4 and 5 were down the line quite a ways, but that it was being done in order to help force developers who aren’t on board yet with X to get there by progressively pulling Classic away from them, while still providing support for those customers who can’t switch yet.

Interesting choice of euphemisms here. Consider the use of “help” when what they really mean is “force.” Also notice how the rep speaks as though all Mac uses want to switch, but just can’t yet. This is certainly not the case for me!

Meathead Start. “They’ve done something extraordinary,” Rob Reiner told the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week. “Considering it’s the biggest county in America, there’s a lot of folks looking at what L.A. is doing.” The filmmaker and activist was referring to a new plan to provide free pre-school for every 3- and 4-year-old in Los Angeles County, courtesy of funds from a statewide tobacco tax. [Reason Online]

By making this statement Mr. Reiner has done an excellent job of discrediting himself. You see, Los Angeles County is not the biggest in America. However, it is located immediately to the west of San Bernardino Country, which really is this biggest in the country.

It’s hardly surprising the Mr. Reiner doesn’t know that, since San Bernardino County has a distinct lack of multimillion dollar mansions, exclusive country clubs, and expensive shops. In fact, it’s the western edge of what the liberal elitists condescendingly refer to as “flyover country.”

Getting ready for media bias. “The Palestinian journalists’ union declared Monday that news photographers are “absolutely forbidden” from taking pictures of Palestinian children carrying weapons… [The news, Uncensored.]

This is part of the reason why media coverage of Israel is so biased. It’s certainly not the only reason, though–after all, the foreign news organizations go along.

Network Associates Buys “Better Carnivore” [Slashdot]

Given the kind of mindset the Neta executives must have to buy such a product, it’s not surprising they tried to bury PGP.

Letter from an ANGRY Reader. Chip Elliott at KeepAndBearArms.com –

Letter from an ANGRY Reader – a 1981 letter to Esquire
magazine about one middle-aged couples’ discovery that being armed is
a necessary part of life. At least as relevant today as it was twenty
years ago. [kaba] [End the War on Freedom]

This is an excellent article, despite its age. The author gives the impression of being a liberal who had been, as the saying goes, “mugged by reality.” It’s a perspective not often seen in articles on self-defense, and is definitely worth reading.

Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship [Slashdot]

Orion was another of those interesting ideas for space travel that never went anywhere. Since it used nuclear explosions for propulsion, launching one from the ground would be rather hard on the surroundings. Barring some dire emergency, an Orion-style ship would really need to be built in orbit.

Calls for Action Open U.N. Summit [AP World News]

Amazingly this story, quite long for the AP, is completely filled with Tranzi propaganda. There’s not a single mention in the story of the one subject of the summit which might actually improve conditions for poor countries–ending the agricultural protectionism of Europe and the US.

MSNBC.  Cheney outlines case against Saddam.  Frankly, this is a flawed strategy.  Given how unlikely it is that we will invade Iraq at this point, every belicose statement from senior government officials merely serves to sink the economy.  Stop it, please! America’s chance for a declaration of war ended last spring. [John Robb’s Radio Weblog]

Saying an invasion is unlikely doesn’t make it so. And what does a declaration of war have to do with anything? The US hasn’t declared war in over 60 years–how many wars have we fought in that time?