Daring Fireball on Konfabulator vs. Dashboard

I've read a great deal about the controversy surrounding Apple's introduction of Dashboard. John Gruber of Daring Fireball has the most in-depth analysis — and defense of Apple — regarding the two programs:

The post-WWDC peanut gallery is atwitter with the idea that Tiger's Dashboard is a blatant rip-off of Konfabulator. You can't read anything about Dashboard without hearing that it's a Konfabulator rip-off.

Bullshit. Dashboard is not a rip-off of Konfabulator. Yes, they are doing very much the same thing. But what it is that they're doing was not an original idea to Konfabulator. The scope of a "widgets" is very much the modern-day equivalent of a desk accessory.

What is original to Konfabulator? That its widgets are based on a scripting language? That's not original.

There's much more on his site. I'm not much of a geek, so I can't comment with any authority. But after reading Gruber's article, my fears about some MacHeads are true: they're a bunch of pissy, whining punks. More at a later date.

Gaysian BBQ Luau

Gaysian BBQ Luau ~Hawaiian themed~ RSVP Please!

What: A Festive, Laid-back, Friendly BBQ for ALL Gaysians and for ALL their Friends.

WHY: Too often people in marginalized communities - LGBT, People of Color, Immigrants, Working-Class and Poor -are taught to hate each other. If it was not already difficult dealing with the racism, sexism, poverty, and violence entrenced in our communities, LGBT People of Color and Immigrants face oppression in multiple ways. We are taught to compete instead of to share, hate instead of to love, and take instead of to give. And we are told by this society that the only place LGBT People of Color can chill is in the clubs, at nights, often under the influence. This BBQ will be a space to chill, show love, eat great food, be with friends, meet new friends, and enjoy everyone's company.

WHO: Friends and Allies of the Providence Youth-Student Movement (PrYSM). "Our purpose is to empower Southeast Asian youth to become powerful activists, critical thinkers, and leaders; to make connections between different struggles and communities; to build and organize a multi-racial movement for social justice, change, and love."

WHEN: 11 AM- 4 PM, Sunday, July 11, 2004.

WHERE: Lincoln Park (Fireplace #62-65) From Providence, NY, and CT: Take 95 N to 146N to the Lincoln Park exit (Twin River Road), at the exit take a right, proceed through the first set of lights and Lincoln Park will be on your left.

From Boston, DC, Miami: Take 93S to 95 S to 295 S to 146 S. Stay on 146S to the Lincoln Park exit (Twin River Road), at the end of the exit ramp take a left, proceed through the first set of lights and Lincoln Park will be on your left.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: If you have BBQ Grills, blankets, supplies, fun stuff, CALL US! If you can buy some meat or food or drinks, CALL US!!!!

PLEASE RSVP!!!!!

QUESTIONS & RSVP: Call Sarath at (339) 532-9866 or Kohei at (401) 226-3207

July 5, 1852: Rochester, New York

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" by Frederick Douglass

Fellow Citizens: Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap like as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin. I can today take up the lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes! We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive, required of us a song and they who wasted us, required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July. Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America "I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being?

The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute-books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that while we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men-digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave-we are called upon to prove that we are men?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer and insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the last, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No; I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy's thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the every-day practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Why Blacks Used to Celebrate July 5th

I know, a few days late; but a pretty interesting article from the History News Network:

Why Blacks Used to Celebrate July 5th By William Loren Katz
(Mr. Katz has been affiliated with New York University for more than twenty years and is the author of forty books on US history.)

This Independence Day falls on July fifth, and if the significance of that date were better known, it would trigger a strong reaction in the United States, particularly among people of color.

During the long night of slavery in the United States, free African Americans in the North discussed how to respond to a holiday that celebrated the independence of a country that held millions of their loved ones in chains. They came up with many creative solutions, some based on changing world events.

In the northern states African Americans gained their freedom in the years following the American Revolution. But it was a slow process in which enslaved people in New York for example, were not liberated until 1827, and in not in New Jersey until the next year.

What then to celebrate? On January 1, 1808 when the slave trade was abolished in the United States, Black New Yorkers, hoping to spur their own freedom along, met to hear a prominent black city minister, Rev. Peter Williams, denounce the rape of Africa, the tragedy of the slave trade and praise the heroic efforts of anti-slavery advocates in England and the U.S. The next year New York organized three spirited celebrations that featured speakers who marked the end of the slave trade.

When freedom became a reality in New York in 1827, the leading celebration was hosted by the African Zion Church, and it sang the virtues of outstanding abolitionists. In a stirrring address that was widely circulated, Black orator William Hamilton said, "This day we stand redeemed from a bitter thralldom."

Steven G. Fullwood Hits the Road

Steven G. Fullwood promotes his first book:

Monday July 12th, Q2: Queer too @ 7:00 PM LouderArts/Bar 13 at 13th Street & University Place, 2nd Floor. I'll be sharing the mike with some wonderful folk including: Luis Cartagena, Jinkie de Rivera, Sonya Shields, and Cheryl Boyce-Taylor who will be celebrating her new CD MANGO PRETTY! Admission is $5.00. Take the Q, W, N, R, 4, 5, 6, L to Union Square.

That's the first of three upcoming stops. More than likely, I won't be attending Monday's reading. But I promise to write an excerpt about the book and his official book party held not too long ago.

Pencils, Erasers & a Mac

From Think Secret (via a poster in their new members forums, via MacBytes):

Office Depot to sell Apple hardware

Office Depot, one of the nation's largest sellers of office products, has become an Apple Authorized Reseller, the chain recently announced on its Web site.

Apple tried this several times in the past with mixed to horrible results. When I go into J&R, I think "what a waste of time!" These superstores can't or won't put out the effort to convince newbies and MicroSloth users to give the Mac platform a try. The only way that this could work, IMMHO, is for Office Depot to give its full commitment to the Mac and help consumers make an informed buy. I wish them luck, but expect lukewarm sales at best.

Why Mac OS X is Better

Via Sandy McMurray's Apple Matters blog:

James Davidson explains Why Mac OS X is Better.

There's nothing I can write, so just go read the article. And don't come back looking for a fight. As Davidson says, You should use the platform that's best for you.

The Roots in NYC This Wednesday

From the J&R Newsletter--

The Roots Live in New York City:

The Roots Wednesday, July 14, 2004, 7:00 pm
Special Live Performance at City Hall Park, Autograph Signing

Philadelphia's The Roots, it can easily be argued, are the world's greatest live hip hop band. Formed in the late '80's around rapper Black Thought's deft rhyming and drummer ?uestlove's funky beats, their presence, influence and success have slowly grown over the past decade, culminating in 2002's brilliant Phrenology (they also have a special version of the CD that comes packaged with a DVD. Their live shows are legendary. . . The Roots celebrate the release of their eagerly anticipated new CD The Tipping Point with a special live performance in historic City Hall Park in downtown Manhattan (directions).

Of course, I probably won't be there. Too tired and broke to attend.

Taking the Plunge

Honey for Oshun

Takin the Plunge...

And so it goes... after much nudging and encouragement (thanks EJ!) I've decided to create my own blogspace. Granted, I've been pondering my blog for a while now. It's not that I was loath to put my personal ish out there. People who know well know I'm pretty shameless and not afraid to say risqué things regardless of the consequences.

With those above line, a very, very good friend has started blogging. Subscribe, have a look and send greetings. I'm waiting impatiently for all the juicy shit!! LOL

Next-Gen iPods Pretty Much Official

This presents a dilemma: do I treat myself for my birthday this month by buying the new, slimmer, improved iPod? Or do I wait to see if new, improved iPod Minis — with an August debut — materialize?

Think Secret: New iPod shown on Newsweek cover

Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a new iPod are shown on the cover of next week's edition of Newsweek, revealing the new models first reported at Think Secret on Saturday.

I'm kinda thinking the iPod Mini rumors are untrue. The first-gen hasn't event appeared internationally, why would they risk sales with a sudden revision?

iPod Bumpin'

click for larger image

My previous post pretty much made the announcement of new iPods official. Now the Gen-4 iPod graces the cover of the July 26th Newsweek:

iPod Nation by Steven Levy, Senior Editor

In just three years, Apple’s adorable mini music player has gone from gizmo to life-changing cultural icon

Steve Jobs noticed something earlier this year in New York City. "I was on Madison," says Apple's CEO, "and it was, like, on every block, there was someone with white headphones, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, it's starting to happen'." Jonathan Ive, the company's design guru, had a similar experience in London: "On the streets and coming out of the tubes, you'd see people fiddling with it." And Victor Katch, a 59-year-old professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan, saw it in Ann Arbor. "When you walk across campus, the ratio seems as high as 2 out of 3 people," he says.

They're talking about the sudden ubiquity of the iPod, the cigarette-box-size digital music player (and its colorful credit-card-size little sister, the Mini) that's smacked right into the sweet spot where a consumer product becomes something much, much more: an icon, a pet, a status indicator and an indispensable part of one's life. To 3 million-plus owners, iPods not only give constant access to their entire collection of songs and CDs, but membership into an implicit society that's transforming the way music will be consumed in the future. "When my students see me on campus with my iPod, they smile," says Professor Katch, whose unit stores everything from Mozart to Dean Martin. "It's sort of a bonding."

The glue for the bond is a tiny, limited-function computer with a capacious disk drive, decked in white plastic and loaded with something that until very recently was the province of ultrageeks and music pirates: digital files that play back as songs. Apple wasn't the first company to come out with a player, but the earlier ones were either low-capacity toys that played the same few songs, or brick-size beasts with impenetrable controls. Apple's device is not only powerful and easy to use, but has an incandescent style that makes people go nuts about it. Or, in the case of 16-year-old Brittany Vendryes of Miami, to dub it "Bob the Music Machine." ("I wanted to keep it close to my heart and give it a name," she explains.) +++

Still debating on purchasing one for my birthday. If recent history is a guide, I'll pass and wait till the next revision to decide. Or I'll forever keep putting it off because I don't want to get burnt by a bump in the iPod that leaves me behind technologically speaking. That happens when you buy a minidisc recorder less than three weeks before the introduction of the iPod. *sigh*

Levy gives the skinny on the slimmer, improved Gen-4 iPod:

The click wheel. The iPod keeps getting slimmer and more streamlined. While the initial version had a relatively boxy feel, subsequent versions have been curvier and smaller. This one is about a millimeter thinner and, more significantly, eliminates the control buttons that sat under the display screen. Instead, it uses a "click wheel," where the controls are placed on the compass points of the circular touchpad that lets you scroll through menus. This is an innovation carried over from the diminutive iPod Mini. "It was developed out of necessity for the Mini, because there wasn't enough room [for the buttons]," says Steve Jobs. "But the minute we experienced it we just thought, 'My God, why didn't we think of this sooner?' "

More efficient menus. There's less thumbing required to get to your favorite stuff. "Music" is a first-level entry, and now a single click initiates the popular technique of shuffling your library for playback.

New features. You can create multiple on-the-go playlists and delete songs from those ad hoc mixes. And audiobooks are not only easier to find, you can listen to them at normal speed, slower or 25 percent faster, without its sounding like a Munchkin.

Longer play. Coast-to-coasters rejoice: the new iPods are rated for 12 hours of rockin' between charges—a 50 percent boost in battery life. This is accomplished, Apple says, not by a heavier battery but diligent conservation of power.

Lower price. The top-of-the-line iPod, holding 10,000 songs (40 gigs, as geeks will tell you), now costs $399. The lower-capacity model, with room for 5,000 songs (20 gigs), costs $299. That's a $100 price reduction for each. (There's no more 15-gig model.)

Color. Fuggedaboutit. Despite rumors to the contrary, the wide-bodies are still as pure as the driven snow.

Bottom line: If you have yet to jump on the iPod bandwagon, it's cheaper and more attractive to do so. If you're already plugged in, the question is whether you should engage in the "iPod Bump," where you snap up the spiffy new version and pass Old Reliable to a grateful friend or family member (or the highest eBay bidder). If your music collection has exceeded your iPod's storage space, or your listening binges exceed your current iPod's battery life—or if you want to hear Bill Clinton's abridged book in 4-1/2 hours rather than six—consider the Bump this time around. Of course, if your heart went aflutter at the very sight of this year's model, you're probably in line at the Apple Store already. +++

I thought this next generation of iPods would sport different colors, a color screen and finally, in-line recording. I hope these features find their way in the Gen-5 iPod by MWSF05.

In the third article from this weeks' issue, Bret Begun peers into the future with an ode to the iPod:

iPod, there are a few things that I've been needing to tell you for a while. This really isn't easy, but here goes...

You know, when we met I had hopes and dreams for us, just like any other iPod owner would have. I thought about growing old together and how, in 2050, when the Smithsonian came calling for an iPod to put in its permanent collection, they'd pick you. Why? Because of your unparalleled playlists. On "Summer Lovin'," as an August sun set, we'd start with Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," which would transition, almost too perfectly, into Gershwin's "Summertime," then merge, seamlessly, into "Legs." OK, well, maybe we could do without the ZZ Top, but you know... I'm sorry, I'm just really confused right now.

What I don't understand is why you choose not to be so many of the things you could be to me, mainly a means to expand my musical horizons. (Thanks, though, for drowning out the impromptu mariachi bands on the subway. That's nice.) +++

I'm sure there's someone out there that owns every generation of iPod and an iPod Mini, and probably has a pre-order for this one.

And for you true fanatics, Newsweek will have a live discussion on the iPod:

Steven Levy joins us Friday, July 23, at noon ET to discuss this week's cover story on iPods

To three million plus owners, iPods not only give constant access to their entire collection of songs and CDs, but membership into an implicit society that's transforming the way music will be consumed in the future. People obsess over their iPods, talking incessantly about playlists and segues, grumbling about glitches, fixating on battery life, and panicking at the very thought of losing their new digital friend. And the introduction of the new iPods this week extends the Apple's digital music dominance. If Apple, as promised, manages to get enough drives to satisfy the demand, the Mini iPod may achieve the ubiquity of its wide-bodied companion. And later this summer, when computer giant HP begins selling a co-branded version of the iPod, consumers will be able to get Pods in thousands of additional retail stores. How did iPod appear to take over the world? Are you a part of the iPod revolution or don't you believe the hype? Join Steven Levy in a Live Talk to discuss this week's cover story on Friday, July 23, at noon ET. Submit questions any time.

I'll be worn out posting and reading about the new iPods at Mac news and rumors sites all over the place. And probably answering emails sent by family members and friends with tons of Mac-related questions. Y'all just need to make the total switch away from MicroSloth.

The Best Just Got Better

Apple has the Gen-4 iPod on sale now. I just saved an order for later as I consider getting my first iPod. And for a limited time, buyers can get their iPods personally engraved for free (one or two lines). From Apple:

Incorporating the fabulous Apple Click Wheel that was first introduced on iPod mini. Offering up to 12 hours of battery life. Weighing in at just 5.6 ounces. And getting slightly thinner with each new generation. iPod continues to define the perfect digital music player for Mac and Windows. You can now purchase a 20GB iPod for $299. Or a 40GB iPod for $399.

I'll make a decision some time this week.

Update at 12:45pm:

1. Apple has posted an update of the iPod software for all users, although it appears that some features won't work on older iPods.

2. There's some confusion about what exactly comes with the high-end version (40GB). The iPod spec page lists a dock, carrying case and remote. The final page once you place an order only shows a dock. Some MacHeads have complained about this and were promised the remote and carrying case in a separate package. And still others were told that the additional package is standard and will ship with all orders.

3. Are the new iPods available at retail locations? In the official release Apple says yes. When I called the SoHo location, I was told they're not in yet; they expect supplies within a week or so. If I have the chance, I'll stop by today.

4. I deleted my earlier saved order and just saved another for the 40GB version. I'll wait till towards the end of this week to really decide. Of course, by that time I'll probably end up on a waiting list for weeks (if not months).

*sigh*

God-Speed Anil

Anil Dash: On Leaving New York

The first city I ever loved can get by without me for a while, and I can certainly do with less fawning over my place of residence and more nuts-and-bolts living of life. My obligation to New York won't ever go away, I'll just honor it differently now, and in the meantime I have some quieter but even more important obligations to fulfill.

See you soon, New York.

I'm going to miss Anil's regular odes to New York City. At the same time, I'm awaiting his essays on his new home, San Francisco.

ej Day

I'm lazy, so I'm stealing all the details from Lynne d.

In celebration of ej

on sunday @ 2pm a few of us are getting together to celebrate ej's birthday, as he is in nyc from atl. if you live in the area, please come out and meet other bloggers meeting up and celebrating july birthdays.

here are the details:

Churrascaria Plataforma
316 West 49th Street
(Between 8th and 9th Aves.)
Phone: (212) 245-0505

feel free to hit me up via email to let me know you'll be in attendance so that we can get a head count

iPod Mini Craze Hits Japan

The iPod Mini finally arrived in Japan:

Thousands of people lined up outside electronics stores in Japan on Saturday as Apple Computer launched sales of its iPod Mini digital music player.

Funny that the demand for the iPod Mini is still so strong the same week that Gen-4 iPods were announced. Although there's probably one reason (among many) for its popularity:

Its simple design is reportedly popular among young female users.

Does it matter that this rapidly approaching middle-age 30-something male wants a pink iPod Mini? No, seriously.

New York, New York, The Big Apple

Anil's Daily Links lead me to The Big Apple, Barry Popik's wonderful site best described as:

A series of citations, quotations, and evidence on the true origins of a New York City nickname, with additional material on other words and terms associated with the city.

His emphasis was the true meaning of the city's nickname, The Big Apple, but it is so much more. I always thought the term/nickname was a Jazz thing. Popik's research shows it's most likely from this explanation by racing writer John J. Fitz Gerald (writing in his "From the Big Apple racing column):

Two dusky [WTF?! - ronn] stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the "cooling rings" of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation.

"Where y'all goin' from here?" queried one.

"From here we're headin' for The Big Apple," proudly replied the other.

"Well, you’d better fatten up them skinners or all you'll get from the apple will be the core," was the quick rejoinder.

I won't deal with that slur further. I enjoyed the site, especially it's name for New York's neighborhoods, slang, and foods made famous here. Check out this bit:

Curry Hill

You open up a place called "Curry in a Hurry" and they name the whole neighborhood after you. I'm just waiting for a place to open called "Hello, Thali."

The neighborhood is Murray Hill, named after Robert Murray, and eighteenth century merchant. The name "Curry Hill" probably dates back to the 1980s, but I haven't found earlier citations yet.

Can't wait for updates and my favorites neighborhoods (read Brooklyn!) to be added.

P6 Got Pictures (from the Brazilian Thang)

Just go and check them out (and I still kinda don't like my pic):

Last time I did this people posted pictures of me in revenge...

Let's hope it happens again!! LOL