Why is it that under Linux, in this year of our Lord 2005, Firefox still hangs when XMMS is running? Why is it that all my CUPS print queues are named lp-something, with the comment 'configured by redhat-printer-config-0.6.x', when I'm not running Red Hat, but Fedora Core 3? Why is there still no way to reconfigure X11 without restarting it? Why is all this a problem, when Linux is supposedly the most advanced operating system evar?

Well, because Linux isn't really the problem. Linux is a kernel. It works pretty well, all things considered. Firefox isn't the problem either, nor is XMMS. Firefox hangs because XMMS has the sound card open, and some browser plugins really don't like that. Apparently they don't teach people to thread around blocking calls in programming class any more. The problem is integration, and it exists in Linux because people are so busy tossing out cookie-cutter distributions that nobody thinks about actually making sure their shit is usable.

The open source community has given anyone looking to build their own desktop a huge head start. There are building blocks for every aspect of system functionality, but there still isn't anyone who's tied them together into a free desktop without making a huge mess of things. Consider the following open source software projects:

• CUPS
• Samba
• Apache
• X.org

•
These are system-level services that are useful on any desktop. One interesting tidbit about these packages is that they are simultaneously available on the world's most usable operating system, Mac OS X, and the world's least usable operating system not written in Brainfuck, Linux. The difference between the two is only in management complexity. OS X has a preference pane which controls basic configuration options for Samba, CUPS, and Apache. With Linux distributions, virtually no work was put into making sure these programs are either easily and consistently configurable or even installed with sensible defaults. They just took the things, made RPMs out of them, and tossed the steaming pile out the door. Otherwise, there's no difference between the platforms' implementations of these software packages.

Well, there is one thing: X11. X11 on Linux is a dinosaur, and is the single biggest impediment to a good free desktop. There's been some progress made after the implosion of XFree86, but the initial spurt of activity seems to be over, and we're still editing XF86Config and restarting eighty times just to get the fucking mouse-wheel to work. Except now it's called xorg.conf, but don't let the name fool you, it sucks just as bad. X11 on the Mac, on the other hand, just works, as we've come to expect. It's not made by X.org, and is not a fork of XFree86 as far as I know.

For a while, I was convinced that Linux's problem was the sheer complexity of the installations out there today. I've got a Fedora Core 3 server in the office with 799 RPMs installed. A server shouldn't need that many, in my opinion. I mean, really, what do I need X11 and gnome-print for if neither X nor Gnome are on the server? It's irrelevant, really. The problem isn't the complexity of the distributions, at least not directly. It may seem like an insurmountable job for the distribution's builder's just to make sure everything works without crashing, let alone actually trying to get any of the own software written that may make something useful out of the 4-gig 'basic' installation.

So maybe, just maybe, they should just start with a base package of the kernel, and nothing else. Tack on an FTP client. Make sure it works correctly, test it a bit. Ok, now let's take a look at those building blocks.

CUPS

I'll admit, I was taken in at first by this article on CUPS' usability problems. CUPS does fail to provide a sensible printing environment for users who just want to print, which would mean most of us. Then I thought about the fact that OS X uses CUPS without the problems this fellow had. In fact, the CUPS problems I've had using OS X only showed up when I was using a Linux machine as a server. Under Linux, I still have absolutely no idea which driver I should use for my HP Deskjet 930c. There are about 50 different drivers called 'New Deskjet 900-series' in the configuration pages, and some foomatic things, and then there's some gimp-print drivers that almost sound like what I need, and all the ones I've tried out to this point provide truly shitty output when printing from a CUPS client, be it OS X or Linux.

Connected to the Mac, it just works, and OS X filters the printer drivers in some way, so that the correct printer driver is easy to find and provides good-looking output. So, the CUPS system itself is not the problem. It needs a management UI, which should be provided with the distribution, and it needs to be installed with sensible defaults. It's my LAN, I want to print to that shared printer, OK?

Samba

I'm comfortable configuring samba from the smb.conf file, but aside from changing the server string and the workgroup, there's nothing to see here, move along. Build a start-stop applet, and put it where I can find it.

Apache

We're trying to build a networked desktop here, so let's just make another start-stop button for this thing. Some sensible defaults, like user-directories enabled, run on port 80, and show directory listings, don't follow symlinks, you get the picture. Ok, we're moving now!

X.org

This is really hopeless. There are no sensible defaults, because of the wide range of graphics hardware and input hardware out there. This is the most basic piece of a GUI-based system, and it's the weakest point of integration in any Linux distribution I've ever installed.

I've never seen a customized or enhanced version of X11 in a Linux distribution. Have you? There are no effects or enhancements that don't come first through the CVS at X.org, which is a rocky, bare, and lethargic place just like its predecessor at XFree86. I'm not sure how well anyone can create management tools for X.org, but maybe somebody out there will one day make a xorg.conf-editor that actually works half as well as the display properties dialog in Windows XP.

Once we've got these 3 elements & 1 albatross working stably, Linux will actually be ready to move into the user applications level of integration. That part should be easy.

My girlfriend had to get up early this morning and go to the doctor. Some sort of girl thing, I believe, and I've left the details as sketchy as possible in my little pea brain. Right before she left, she bent over to give me a little peck on the forehead, and my first experience of the morning was a face-full of beautiful, shining cleavage. Every day should start that way.

After she came back from the doctor, we ate breakfast. I didn't have much of an appetite, so I pardoned myself early and got ready for work. When I came back into the kitchen, she was sitting in the corner of the kitchen, playing footsie with herself. I'm still not exactly sure what that was about, but it was strangely exciting.

On the way to work, I walked past a clothing store, and there was an attractive young asian woman fondling a naked female mannequin. She was just staring into space, running her hands slowly up and down the hips of this well-proportioned, though headless and armless torso. She noticed me licking the glass and giggled nervously. She probably realized she had been added to that twisted playlist that runs on repeat in the dollar-a-minute peep-show booth that my brain has become.

Acidman's writing about bats. I used to be afraid of spiders, but I was never afraid of bats. Bats were always kind of exotic and cool, even though they were everywhere when I was a kid. Spiders, on the other hand, were just flat-out scary. I despised those hateful little bastards. It probably dated back to the time when we were swimming at my grandpa's pool, and my dad got out of the water and put on his tanktop, only to discover that a black widow had moved in and staked out a claim. Despite being a big tough man who had survived marriage, spoiled children, and repeated attempts by the Viet Cong to shorten his life, his reaction could only be described as "losing one's shit." Not that I blame him. He handled it a lot better than I would've. At least he didn't scream, "for the love of God, take the children!" as I undoubtedly would've.

Despite being somewhat tough in other respects, I suffered for years with arachnophobia. Even little wolf-spiders would set my blood a-curdling. I never got over the fear until I met this little beauty: the Gold Weaver Spider, of the Australian Persuasion(I've got a great photo of this bastard. I'll post it as soon as I can find it). The Gold Weaver is about as big as a dinner plate, and likes to build her web across bike paths and swimming pools. She's the biggest land spider in the world, and I actually touched one. That was right before I wet my pants, screamed like a girl, and finally got over my arachnophobia. Pretty much in that order.

As for bats, Australia doesn't really have bats, as far as I can tell. They've got flying foxes. Picture a bat with red hair and a 7-foot wingspan, and you've got a flying fox. If you're scared of anything in the animal kingdom, just go to Oz, and you'll see enough of them on a day-to-day basis to get over it.

It's cold outside and snowin' like a bastid. I could really use a warm, sunny patch of grass and a cooler full of Budweiser right about now.

1. Who the hell do you think you are?

I am the all-being, master of space, time and dimension. And I live in Europe.


2. So, other than blogging, what's your job? Do you work at some fast food joint, dumbass?

I am a self-employed designer, programmer, writer, and network administrator. Fast food joints pay better.

3. Do you have like any experience in journalism, idiot?

I am, hilariously enough, a book critic for a local magazine. That cracks me up.

4. Do you even read newspapers?

In Europe, you don't 'read' newspapers. You turn to page three and look at tits, the way God intended.

5. Do you watch any other news than FOX News propaganda, you ignorant fool?

I don't get Fox. In fact, I don't have a television. I used to have a television in my old apartment, but there were never more than three channels that came in, and they were always showing cheese documentaries.

6. I bet you're some moron talk radio listener too, huh?

I have no car, and thus no radio. I listen to 80s trash on my iPod sometimes, though.

7. So, do you get a fax from the GOP each day for what to say, you @#$% Republican parrot?

No, I get my marching orders per email.

8. Why do you and your blogger friends want to silence and fire everyone who disagrees with you, fascist?

Because they disagree with us, and it's unpleasant when people agree with us. Get me?

9. Are you completely ignorant of other countries, or do you actually own a passport?

See 1.

10. Have you even been to another country, you dumb hick?

See 1. I went to Belgium once, too. I think that's in Europe, too, but they talk all funny.

11. If you're so keen on the war, why haven't you signed up, chickenhawk?

Because I am what the kids today would call a 'pussy'.

12. Do you have any idea of the horrors of war? Have you ever reached into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face?

No, but this one time I dropped acid, and I reached into a pile of silvery, morphing goo that used to be my best friend's copy of "Watchmen" (Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore). Very unnerving.

13. Have you ever reached into any pile of goo?

Yes. While making veggie burgers, you'll spend about 15-30 minutes with your hands in a big pile of lentils, mashing them into a sort of yellow-brown paste that smells like the breath of Satan with curry-powder for effect. Then, you stuff the lentils into a plastic bag and lay them on the patient's chest to avoid contamination, and calmly administer morphine while waiting for a medic.

14. Once again, who the hell do you think you are?!"

I...I don't remember. I used to be taller and better-looking. And funny. Now, I'm going bald on my left leg and can't think of anything to say.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get down to the immigration office and get my residence application turned down.


Via Ravnwood

Woof! Woof!

Well, hey Lassie! What's the trouble?

WOOF!

What's that you say?! Rube's trapped under a Dell Inspiron 5100?! We've got to help him! I'll get Paw!

A customer just brought this abomination of a clunker to me for fixin'. I've become such a smug Mac fanboy that I almost refused. This thing is a Cadillac among computers: Weighs about 11 lbs., creaks and squeaks when you type on it, and most of the little rubber feet have fallen off the bottom. The visual design is tasteless and obvious, made with cheap materials, something like a Trabbi with metallic-blue plastic wheels (which actually complements XP quite nicely). The track pad is squirrelly, and clicks and drags and jumps and springs like a dusted-up ferret.

Speaking of which, it also required a repair-install of Windows XP, which just served to sweeten the mixture. You'll never see such a dismal, patronizing display of wrong-headed tips, hints, and Are-You-Sure? stubbornness as the re-loading of a Microsoft operating system. It looks like a Warhol painting reproduced by a color-blind retard. Well, another color-blind retard. Everything is painted in primary colors, with enormous window controls and constant beeps, bloops, and blips that only distract you while trying to crack the activation scheme. And was somebody really so impressed by that over-saturated meadow photo that they decided to make it the default desktop background in perpetuity?

I've never understood how Dell can constantly be rated tops in support. This machine has a well-known problem, judging by the comments at ZDNet or just about anywhere else you check: The heat-sink isn't protected from dust in any way, and so the desktop-version 2.8GHz P4 that's sitting on the motherboard just overheats and shuts off the computer every 5 minutes. The customer spent the last 5 days talking to Dell support about this, and the first solution was always to re-install the operating system. That's always Dell's solution, it seems. Apparently, they've moved that troubleshooting tip up to the call center, instead of back at the repair shop where it belongs.

All you need to do to 'fix' this problem, is blow really hard into the fan vent on the backside of the computer. It may not be a real fix, in addition to looking rather silly, but it works. Then, to get around the poor design decision of putting the fan on the underside of the computer, where something as simple as missing rubber feet will cut off all air flow to the processor, you just slide a slim cd jewel case underneath the front edge of the computer. Asuming it isn't crushed by the sheer weight of the computer, it should give just enough room underneath for air to get in.

The next problem was that, after all the damage done by the Dell support guys, including the wholesale deletion of the C:\Windows directory, none of Dell's hardware worked correctly. USB ports? Forget it. Dell's answer: Re-install. My answer: 1 minute with Google to find the solution (thanks, Mr. Greene, nice work). It was this way with almost all problems the laptop had, and it's a story I will repeat inexhaustibly the next time I'm explaining to them why a $2000 P4 laptop is a worse choice than a $2500 Powerbook. Looks great on paper, but brother, the shit just...don't...work. It's made to the lowest standards, and the tech support solutions you receive are actually worse than the problem. I don't blame them: I wouldn't want to support XP either. But that was their decision. They should start developing to SkyOS.

I've never like Dell. I've always found their combination of stodgy, Warsaw Pact case design coupled with pimp-of-the-minute detail work disastrous. They can't give effective support for their products, and often border on destructive 'troubleshooting' tips that are obvious time-buying ploys to get the customer off the phone. I've had my differences with Apple tech support, but not once did the first support-o-droid on the phone tell me to reformat my hard drive to fix an overheating problem. Over-priced junk, the whole line.

I just made square biscuits. That's how lazy I am.

who doesn't care if I'm a one-way mirror?
who's not frightened by my cold exterior?
who doesn't ask me questions?
who doesn''t want to scold me?
who doesn't look for answers?
who just wants to hold me?

(hint: Isn't this a dream come true? Isn't this a nightmare, too?)

It will slip through your fingers like sand, the energy of your youth. At some point, in your dotage, you'll hear a song that will remind you of a girl you knew, maybe when your were seventeen, or maybe thirty. You may push it out of your mind for a while; a few decades, and years, and lifetimes, but there it is, waiting for you, in a little-visited dusty corner of your mind, where the cobwebs gather like ghosts. There was once a child in you, in all of us, who struggled against the world, and the limits it set for him, arbitrarily. This child had dreams, and plans for the future, and limitless possibilities. It's easy to hate this child, with his bright future and idealistic sensibilities. The reflex of old age is to hate such children, to despise their ignorance. But I've got a special relationship with the eager beaver behind me. I listen to him, and think about what he wants. There were dreams, and longing, and heartbreaking hopes between fast friends, all but forgotten now, lost in the din of the small worries that mar an adult life.

The only thing that stood in my way then is gone now. I'd do well to remember that.

Not after tonight, at any rate.

Barbecue, anybody?

Welcome to the pleasure dome, Howie. Lawrence, Kansas, the heart of conservative America, not to mention far-right gunslinging drug-addled nutcase William S. Burroughs, lordy, where are they when you need them, those big-iron boys.

danny say:

It's a dead man's party
Who could ask for more
Everybody's comin', leave your body at the door
Leave your body and soul at the door . . .

Got my best suit and my tie
Shiny silver dollar on either eye
I hear the chauffeur comin' to my door
He Says there's room for maybe just one more . . .

Go read a beautiful thought.

Being away for a long time is something everyone should do at some point, or at least have done to them. There's nothing like being rotated back, and that moment, after a year overseas, when you put your arms around your baby, your mama, or your brother. I think the only bad part is how much longer it is for you than it is for the people back home. I remember when I came back to the States after being out of the country for two years, and so many people said, 'what? I didn't realize you were out of the country!' And I was like, fucker! I just been to every goddamn corner of the world, wanting every minute to get back home in case something happened without me, and you fuckers didn't notice I was gone?! Fucker!

Well, anyway, Sandy writes it better.

I mean, how hard would it've been to do the following?

1. Press Print-Screen (BMP Saved to desktop)

Nowadays, it's the following:

1. Press Print-Screen
2. Open graphics program (Photoshop, etc)
3. Make "New Document"
4. Paste clipboard contents (the 'Print-Screen')
5. Save as...
6. Choose filename
7. Save

Of course, I've left out a couple of steps, such as, 'Figure out what the hell to do with a .BMP file'. Why does Windows default to BMP's? Does Windows use DisplayBMP(tm)? I know that if you make screenshots in KDE, with KSnapShot (an excellent application, BTW), you get PNG's on your desktop. In OS X, you get PDF's, which is understandable considering PDF is the native Mac graphic format.

In all fairness, I think you can press Alt-Print-Screen and it copies just the active window, but I gave up trying to memorize the difference between the two years ago. I mean, there's a key that says 'PrintScreen' right there on the keyboard, and it doesn't work, actually.

I usually avoid Instapundit, due to envy and a general sense of inadequacy. But this is awfully hard to resist.

I like Condi, even though I know next to nothing about her that I haven't read in New York Post. But still, I think a losing Rice candicacy in 2008 will be the one thing to finally put a nail in the coffin of the American Democratic party, and free up the left side of the aisle for a viable liberal party. There's no way the powers-that-be on the right or the left will let a black woman get elected to the Presidency, no matter how qualified she is.

The powers-that-be on both sides are going to have to expose themselves for what they are, and give up their positions to the ideologies that drive the parties. The Democrats will die by the light of day, and the Republicans will take a hit. But what's left over will be a truly conservative party for people of that persuasion, and the solution to the paradox of the left: namely, the guilt-based crypto-socialist nexus that they aspire to today will be replaced by the more libertarian version of an unregulated, merit-based identity hierarchy where the government plays no role.

It's win-win, Condi, at least for everybody but you. Take one for the team. Whatever Dimmer gets elected in 2008 will have a Republican VP, and will probably both be impeached before the end of 2009.

Wheee! The Powerbook's back!

For those who don't understand OS X, here's the deal: Picture Linux, but with plugins, Photoshop, drivers, the functionality of OS/2 (except with applications to take advantage of it), Microsoft Office (so you can communicate with the cretins who still don't understand that 99.9999% of modern communication should be formatted in plain-text, or, if you need italics to communicate effectively, XHTML). On top of that, there're binary distributions of joe, ncftp, and just about anything else that lets you get shit done.

Ahhh. It's good to be home again. After 3 days of Windows, I feel like somebody just invented the computer. Now, I simply must download some porno, if you'll excuse me...

UPDATE: Oh, yeah, not to mention effective OpenGL window rendering. Hooo-wee! Wonder what the poor people are doin'?

UPDATE II: DisplayPDF, anyone?

Fly my pretties, fly!

Now if I can only get my Powerbook back, I'll be able to continue my role as a smug, obnoxious Mac fanboy. Maybe I should boot back into slackware in meantime. At least there be bash there.

There's something about being an admin that makes people crazier than shithouse rats. Case in point, wherein Sam goes all Letterman on a bitchy PC.

There's nothing like frothy-mouthed violence upon inanimate objects to still the raging blood of a pissed-off computer guy. Too often, we have to smile and keep up appearances for our customers, lest we lose the illusion of being in control of a situation.

The best revenge I ever got to exact on a computer? At my old company, we had a Novell server that kept losing data. Eventually, we tracked it down to its Micropolis drives, which seemed to just be spinning bits off into space, despite being mirrored and duplexed. We called Micropolis, and they denied it could be the drives up until the warranty ran out, then they sent a recall notice for drives that were still under warranty.

So, my boss and I took the drives out, stacked them up a back room, and spent about 2 hours shooting them with a crossbow. A real crossbow, using 8-inch stainless steel bolts.

Micropolis + Crossbow == AWESOME!!!1

I don't want to say it's snowing like hell outside, but this morning, after hacking Scatman Crothers to death, I limped all the way to work with an axe yelling "Danny boy!" in a high, gurgling scream.

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.

Author Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

Thompson was an insane dickhead, but goddamn I loved his writing. Although I disagree with every single moral principle he put down in in books like "Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Generation of Swine", he did it all with a style and humor that kept me in bloody stitches.

He was a huge influence on me when I was younger, wanting to be a writer, trying to find my own growling inner voice to tell the stories in my head.

Rest in peace, Hunter.

So, I'm sitting here, typing away on my newly-reactivated PC, and I just noticed, after 4 hours of working, that either the blue gun is getting all hyperactive, or the red and green ones are sleeping on the job. Every couple of seconds, the color on the monitor washes all blue, then goes back to normal.

So, as a request for comments: I'm now on the lookout for a new monitor. The one I've got is an aging 19" CTX VL90. I'd like to get a 19" flat panel, wide-format if possible. Any suggestions?

The hook, of course, is that I've got exactly €3.50 in the bank.

My bestest little buddy went on a trip today. He's never been out there on his own before, so of course I'm worrying myself sick, hoping he's OK, and that the people at the Apple Repair Center are taking care of him. That's right, at 9:02 this morning, the UPS guy came by and picked up my Powerbook. He wasn't feeling well. The Powerbook, I mean. Thanks to this problem, he's going on vacation.

Now I'm working on my Windows PC. First day today. So far:

• Virus update notification that couldn't be clicked away
• ZoneAlarm popped up while I was playing Doom 3; machine frozen between video modes
• Windows blue-screened for some inscrutable reason (rebooted before I could read the error message)
• Upon restart received "Windows Critical Error" dialog, without specifics on which application it was
• Weird window-management feature, where a window was off-screen, and could only be seen when maximized. "Tile Windows" didn't bring it back
• Font-management bug where a Type 1 font couldn't be substituted in Macromedia Flash

It's going to be a long week.

As if reading my mind, michael say:

Going to a place that's far, so far away and if that's not enough Going where nobody says hello, they don't talk to anybody they don't know You'll wind up in some factory that's full time filth and nowhere left to go Walk home to an empty house, sit around all by yourself I know it might sound strange, but I believe You'll be coming back before too long At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care if you're not here with me 'Cause it's so much easier to handle All my problems if I'm too far out to sea But something better happen soon Or it's gonna be too late to bring you back It's not as though I really need you If you were here I'd only bleed you But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down and That's not how it ought to be I know it might sound strange, but I believe You'll be coming back before too long

In no particular order:

• The comical 'Boing!' sound in Whammy! by the B-52s; 1983; Athens, GA
• The last 2 Space is the Place-minutes of Bugman by Blur; 1992; UK
• My putting Upside Down by The Jesus & Mary Chain right in the middle of a make-out mix tape; 1989; Woodstock, GA
• Peter Buck selling his distortion pedal; 1989; Los Angeles, CA
• 

Poking around Little Green Footballs (no link, because I don't want y'all Bitch-dotting Charles' nice little blog there), I came across this little gem of a page.

Looking at that cheered me up for a number of reasons. First off, Charles is absolutely right about the Valentine's flash banner. Priceless; an absolute masterpiece of medieval Muslim romantik. Xenophobia begins at home, kids. But mostly, I just have to giggle when I see a URL that has "ShowFatwa.php" in it.

Awesome! You guys are nuts...

Just in case any y'all was looking for a good dildo-party this weekend.

Just sayin'...

Click here for the story...

It's Monday again. How do I know this? Well, first of all, I'll be inebriated in just a few short hours. My liver's already quivering --quivering!-- with anticipation. Secondly, every Monday afternoon there's a little parade that marches past my office window. Far from being a celebration of my own glorious acts, it's actually a sad little group of about eight freeloaders protesting Hartz IV, the German social services reform bill.

I don't really know much about Hartz IV, having Googled it for the first time just a minute or two ago, and I don't really care what's in it. Often, I'll eschew informing myself about an issue and simply base my decision on who's marching against it. The bongo-beating, rhyme-chanting mouth-breathers that just limped past my office window have just made me a huge fan of Hartz IV, even if it reads like a Jonathan Swift treatise. Beat those bongos, slackers; I'm going shopping for fava beans.

Just a factoid for the stream:

In typesetting, you generally want to avoid leaving a line of a paragraph by itself on a page. When it's the first line, it's called a widow When it's the last line, it's called an orphan. In German, you called the first line a Cobbler's boy (Schusterjung), and the last line 'son of a whore' (Hurenkind).

Carry on.

[This is a book review I've written for next month's Die Neue Szene, the local scene-rag, in case anyone feels like reading it.]

€16.90
"Digital gestalten: Der Erste-Hilfe Kurs in Typo, Farbe und Layout" (Günter Schuler)
Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2005

In this compact volume, author Günter Schuler attempts to cover almost all aspects of modern electronic typographical design and layout. As the subtitle suggests, the book is arranged like a course on design basics, with long stretches of raw information about design and layout, culminating in a detailed example showing its application.

Starting with the evolution of movable type, and tracing the histories of various typefaces, we learn for what purposes many familiar fonts were originally developed, and by whom, and what it is about them that has kept them alive into the digital age. Next, we move on to how one goes about using them. The classic techniques of layout are covered, and are analogized to workflows of modern programs like InDesign and QuarkXPress. This is attractive to budding designers; learning the principles of layout, instead of the tools and tricks, allows the reader to apply this knowledge to any design process.

Unfortunately, Mr. Schuler wastes large portions of the book with endless lists of examples that contribute little to the reader’s experience. The lists of typefaces in the opening chapters, for example, are overwhelming, not to mention boring to page through. Also, many examples of bad design are subtly made, and not clearly marked, giving the reader an uncomfortable impression that the guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about, after all.

Despite the occasional glitches in writing style and organization, this book offers an excellent entry point into the world of professional design. It is brimming with the kind of information and concepts one needs to rise above the Web-monkeys and Photoshop-jockeys that saturate the field today.

Every now and then, me and the old lady sleep late, work up an appetite, then get up and enjoy a nice breakfast together. I'm happy to say that today was one of those days. Unfortunately, they don't have Waffle Houses over here, so your options are limited. It's either head over to the coffee shop for a $10 breakfast of yogurt and oak leaves, or do it yourself.

It just so happens that the old lady and me enjoy practicing the culinary arts, and brother, we produced. I'd like you all to meet someone very dear to me, the Small Southern Breakfast:

Let's see, what we got here?

• Hot coffee
• Fresh-squeezed orange juice
• Homemade biscuits au Rube
• One double-sized, spicy-hot Augsburg-style omelette
• Cheese grits (made with Gouda, which is surprisingly good, even for a cheese-grits purist like myself)
• Assorted cheeses (Gouda, swiss, emmentaler)
• Butter, honey, peach jelly, and red-pepper spreads
• Peanut butter, a rare commodity in these parts
• One hungry Rube
• One hungry Augie

Yuuuuuummmmmmm-mi!

Then came the nap, but I forgot to take pictures. Y'all over there living in the Land o' Plenty have no idea what a rare joy it is over here to stuff yourself like a peanut farmer before getting out of your pajamas.

TrustedReviews: IBM, Sony, Toshiba to acCELerate Processor Market?

After three years of co-development between industry giants IBM, Sony and Toshiba the fruit of their labours has finally been detailed to the public. The Cell processor, which among other things will power Sony’s PlayStation 3 games console, is a multicore chip that its designers boast has the potential to run 10 times faster than current PC chips.

They don't mention it in at the end of that article, but in this one (German) they make it pretty clear that this cell processor thing is a 64-bit, multi-core, scaled-down Power5. It's a similar manufacturing scheme as the current Power4 machines from IBM and the Apple G5 line of Power Macs. Can you say 'Power Mac G7'? I thought you could.

There are a couple of things that are interesting in these articles. Apparently, they're already being fabricated. IBM will be introducing them in a workstation line later this year, and the PlayStation 3 is already under development, so prototypes probably exist. Secondly, the price of the chip will be less than those in Intel's line-up. The introduction of the G5 lagged behind the Power4 by just over a year. That means if Apple opts for the cell, and if reports are accurate about its performance they should definitely consider it, we could see the new processor wearing something stylish sometime next year, and with a lower price-tag than the G5s.

So, wonder what Motorola's up to these days? Probably somewhere ordering rubber dicks with Tom Sizemore.