Friday, January 25, 2002

A big smile and bouquet of GPFs for SusieJ, who's not only the first reader to click my e-mail icon but whose sites show class and HTML skill that makes us newbies despair of even starting.  She teases me about my "the Weblog world needs more non-Mac buffs" line, joking that we Windows users are too busy crashing to post much.  If only she knew that, as a computer journalist these 20 years, I'm proud to have coined the phrases "Mac Davidians" and "yuppier-than-thou" ... as well as addressing Linux with "If the theosophist hippies don't repel you, the command-line macho men will."  And before you conclude I must be a paid shill for Bill Gates, please see my many years of Microsoft-bashing for a few million readers — most recently, I've remarked that Windows security "has more holes than Blackburn, Lancashire" and mused "'Where do you want to go today?' Please. A more candid Microsoft motto might be, 'You're not paying us enough often enough.'" Different computers and operating systems have different strengths and weaknesses — plenty of both — and excel at different tasks, but all of them are merely tools used to produce the work which is what we should be judged by.  Using a particular brand of CPU or OS does not make you any hipper or cooler or morally virtuous than using a particular brand of toothpaste, and anyone who implies it does loses much credibility with your correspondent. That said, I just posted my review of Radio 8.0 at WinPlanet: "The Artsy Mac Folks Are Onto Something."  Maybe even something huge; I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't make my readers aware of it. 8:37:29 PM    commentplace ()

I pretend that I can tell the difference and prefer Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke (one or the other of which I have four or five of per day), but I must confess Diet Coke with Lemon beats Diet Pepsi Twist.  Not that either of them really tastes like soda with an actual lemon in it, but mmmm, now you can enjoy that airline beverage-cart taste at home anytime. Of course, most foods that are supposed to taste like something else — banana-bread cereal, cinnamon-roll oatmeal, whatever — fall short. But Edy's Limited Edition Girl Scouts Thin Mint Cookie Ice Cream (portion of proceeds go to Girl Scouting) is an amazing exception, tastes just like the Girl Scout cookies Patricia and I haven't had a chance to enjoy yet because only one of the two neighbor girls from whom we ordered has made her delivery while the other leaves her customers waiting.  Hello?  Are you reading this?  This means you! 7:57:18 AM    commentplace ()