Grab Bag

When you turn on a laptop, it ought to be immediately usable, like the ones in the movies. Do you ever see a movie character pull out the laptop and have to wait for Windows or Leapin Lizard Leppard to boot? Nope, its just there. Thats what I want. It gets worse when what I want is secondary, as when I want to write something here but have to wait until Blogger feels like starting up. I think if anything ever convinces me to buy a web site, that'd be it. Of course, then I'd find that owning the domain and using some other package doesn't guarantee pure writing satisfaction, either.

Wonder if there are people who make a living making your PC work your way? Most of us, we learn to live with it, but I bet the truly wealthy don't. Its like this new laptop that we're getting. I just know I am going to have to spend time rearranging the menu to look the way I want, and deleting the crap that Dell will put there. Why is that?

I need a new printer. Okay, okay, I WANT a new printer. Every year I get the lexmark christmas card envelope blues, where the lexmark, which usually does an okay but not outstanding job, jams multiple times. I want a decent inkjet printer that won't jam. And can print in color. And can handle stiff cards without bending them. Price is an object (sure!) but not a big one. But try and figure out which ones really work and are usable, from reviews on Cnet or wherever. Even physically going and seeing them them doesn't really hack it -- and Staples is NOT set up to let you try them out.

I have got to read the two books I ordered up from the library before the next one arrives (one should be easy, as its about Santa, but the other is politics, and the third is medical information systems), and I have really got to get back to that book about Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, which I was enjoying even though it was heavy going. Got to!

Swarm intelligence and emergent behavior are really interesting, and I wish I knew more about them. Not just knew, but understood. That National Geo article was fascinating. I knew some of it, but much, like the part about the foragers versus the scouts, I had no idea. I am in awe of people who can take those ideas and apply them to real world events. One company took the idea of how ants figure out where the most effective places to go for food are and applied it to a method of maximizing revenue from fuel sales. And the thing is, like Sherlock Holmes, once its explained, its pretty obvious. Its like finding someone who says yeah, I was eating Rice Krispies and I got to thinking about why they make that crackling sound, and I realized that its probably a wavefront phenomena where the milk hits the air inside the individual rice bit... and that made me wonder why you couldn't do that to make a laser's cutting edge more focused. Pretty obvious, in retrospect! You just need that little paradigm shift, is all...

My wife sent me this, from a viral email:

Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store and play music. The I-Boob will cost $499 or $599 depending on cup size; stereo for only $200 additional. This has been hailed as a major breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

I told her I would take two.

I'm still fixated on this mentor thing. I need to find out if its okay and expected to not push the kid... because thats what I think he needs. I hate being someone who wonders 'is it okay for me to do that?', both from the idea of 'would it be effective' and 'would the organization allow me to do that?'

We got the Christmas tree in the house and in the stand. Yay!