Susan Kare

Susan Kare User Interface Graphics

Came across her page while browisng Wikipedia. The portfolio speaks for itself. Suffice it to say that she designed many of the icons of my youth.

A kind of scottish fruit

I got myself a new toy last Friday. I'm still getting used to it, but once I migrate my e-mail to it, I think it's going to be my main box. I hate to shun Linux, but I'm tired of Things Not Working because I Bought Hardware from Evil Vendors Who Support Only Windows on Intel. I might try putting Linux (and OpenDarwin) on this puppy, but maybe down the road.

I do still have a few questions, though. I'm using iTunes to sort out my music collection, and I'll probably use it as my main jukebox app. What does the "Sound enhancer" actually do? I tried playing with it, and it sort of applies an Aphex Aural Exciter effect. But what's it actually doing? All Google gives me is press releases saying that this feature is wonderful, and articles telling you how to turn it off.

In Firefox, when I go to the dropdown in the address bar, why do all the site names show up as Chinese characters? This isn't a showstopper, since I usually go by URL, but it is kinda confusing.

How come Darwin Ports sucks? I mean, apart from it being a package manager and all.

I was going to wonder what sort of desktop switching there is available, but I found what looks like a good app for that.

Math You Can't Use

PJ at Groklaw has posted a sample chapter of what looks like a good book on software copyright and patents:

Math You Can't Use, Ch. 6 ~ by Ben Klemens

It's a well-written bit, and it puts down in words some of the same ideas I've had myself about copyrights in general. Only this guy actually knows what he's talking about. Thank you, Mr. Klemens, for saving me from writing the same stuff but worse.

In other news, influenza is fun.

Wiki solves the halting problem!

Caught this little gem over at Wikipedia:

Queen Marie of Roumania - Tour Through Canada 1926

Queen Marie of Roumania - Tour Through Canada 1926

I found this while looking up pictures of Queen Marie of Romania. It's remarkable for its breathtakingly boring history of Canada and CN, the depictions of the Bulgarian and two of Canada's coats of arms, and the complete absense of CPR. I'm sure Her Majesty found this a great sleeping aid on her tour.

``They had visions of a second trans­continental line extending from Moncton in the Maritimes [...] to Edmonton and on through the Yellowhead Pass[!] and the practically unexplored mountain kingdom of the Northern Canadian Rockies [...].''