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Thursday, July 29, 2004 |
The Apple Product Cycle
"The forums are ablaze with vitriolic rage. Haters pan the device for being less powerful than a Cray X1 while zealots counter that it is both smaller and lighter than a Buick Regal. The virtual slap-fight goes on and on, until obscure technical nuances like, “Will it play multiplexed Ogg Vorbis streams?” become matters of life and death." From The Apple Product Cycle. Brilliant. [eric.weblogs.com]
10:12:54 PM Permalink
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The optimist
The idea I liked best from Kerry's speech is that it's the pessimist who says " this is the best we can do," and the optimist who says "we can do a lot better."
What a great line. It's the pessimist who says, things aren't as good as they used to be, or we have to go back to the way things were back when. It's an American idea, an optimistic idea, that says we can do better, that we can build a better world.
Earler today I was reflecting on how the Democrats always disappoint me, when the rhetoric doesn't live up to the reality. Roger said, "yeah, you don't expect anything from the Republicans." But I'd rather be disappointed in a Democratic president than be disappointed in a Republican president, because my expectations of the latter are already so low!
9:52:32 PM Permalink
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matutinal
Relating to or occurring in the morning. [Wordsmith.org: Today's Word]
Ha! I remember the day I learned the meaning of this word. It must have been in '73, or '74, and I was reading Henry James' The American for a survey course in James' work. There was the great line, "His cheek bespoke the joys of the matutinal steel." Searching for "matutinal steel" on Google, I learned that this was a later change to the novel, changing the phrase from "he had shaved in the morning." Maybe I knew that back when, but I'd forgotten it. I do remember "matutinal" now, and I remember that phrase more than I remember anything else about that novel.
11:26:56 AM Permalink
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Chester Himes
Chester Himes was born on this day in 1909. There's a nice piece on him at Today in Literature. I read A Range in Harlem not long ago, a fun book with a lot of action in a few pages, and have the movie version sitting on the Tivo now. My favorite of his books has always been the funny, though a bit dated Pinktoes.
10:09:00 AM Permalink
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I, Republican
The three laws:
1. A Republican may not injure a corporation, or, through inaction, allow a corporation to come to harm.
2. A Republican must obey the orders given it by corporations except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A Republican must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. [Whiskey Bar]
9:57:57 AM Permalink
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DNC: A serious interview with Jon Stewart
While eating breakfast with reporters in Boston on Monday, Jon Stewart accused the media of being "stage managed." Now Nightline's Ted Koppel asks Stewart some tough questions about his role on The Daily Show. What follows is a partial transcript... [Lost Remote]
STEWART: I'm a news anchor. Remember this is bizarro world. And I say, the issue is health care and insurance, and why 40 million American kids don't have insurance -- 40 million Americans are uninsured. Is this health insurance program being debated in Congress good for the country? Let's debate it. I have with me Donna Brazile and Bay Buchanan. Let's go. Donna. "I think the Democrats really have it right here. I think that this is a pain for the insurance companies and the drug companies and this is wrong for America." Bay. "Oh no, what it is..." And then she throws out her figures from the Heritage Foundation, and she throws out her figures from the Brookings Institute, and the anchor -- who should be the arbiter of the truth -- says, "Thank you both very much, that was very interesting." No it wasn't! That was Coke and Pepsi talking about beverage truth. And that game has, I think, caused people to think, "I'm not watching this."
9:30:19 AM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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