bodhi tree swaying » Apple

My life in bullet-points (again)

bodhipaksa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:01:54 +0000

I read Zits every morning. Today’s was particularly funny, I thought.

Liked this quote: "You cannot live an authentic life without mastering the art of disappointing people." Cheryl Richardson
And this one: "Thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence." Eckhart Tolle
But this is another fake Buddha quote doing the rounds on Twitter, quotations sites, etc: ” ‘If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change’ – Buddha.” The entire tone of that statement is so far from anything I’ve read in any form of Buddhist scripture that I’m astonished anyone familiar with Buddhism would think for a moment this is genuine. And yet I see Buddhists passing this quote on as if it were.
It’s good to know I live in the land of the free. Now you’re not a criminal in Colorado for watering your garden with rainwater. (But I believe it’s still illegal to fill your own gas tank in Oregon).
Interesting article about fireflies. I’d have titled it, "Why females prefer flashers." That’s why the NYT will never employ me.
Speaking of which, here’s the NYT on the Dalai Lama’s Science Initiative.
I think it’s interesting how many people call the iPod Touch the "iTouch." Suggests the real name is a bit awkward. A bit of a mis-step by Apple, I think.
The very talented E. Christopher Clark is raising money through Kickstarter. Donors get copies of his new book once it’s done (and other goodies).
Norm Coleman conceded! Go Franken!

Cool tool for simplifying

bodhipaksa — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:36:56 +0000

One problem with using a Mac is that often the desktop can end up looking very cluttered. Especially when using programs like Dreamweaver and Fireworks, which have many small panes, the experience of using a Mac can be rather like reading a newspaper where someone’s cut out many of the articles: it gets distracting because of all the “show-through” from other programs.

One solution is to use Command+Option+H, which hides all programs except the one that’s in the foreground. It’s a nice way of simplifying the view, and you can use the dock or Command+Tab to cycle through the programs you’re using. That doesn’t work in all applications, however.

Another solution that I found today is a free application called Isolator, which masks out what’s in the background, but allow you to click on it when needed, bringing that application into focus.

It’s very customizable so that you can have different degrees of transparency, and can select from different filtering options. The one illustrated is “blur,” which makes the background look like you’re viewing it through darkened and frosted glass. So far I’m enjoying the program, even though I’ve only been using it for an hour or so.

The weightdate rollercoaster ride

bodhipaksa — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:02:58 +0000

This is an “apropos of nothing” post if I ever wrote one.

If you’re an iPhone or iPod Touch (not iTouch!) owner do you remember web apps? Before Apple opened up its web store the only way short of hacking your machine (which I did) you could get a new application was to use a web-based one. These are probably still flourishing, but I’d imagine that the App Store has probably undercut their use a lot.

But… one I used and still use is Weightdate, which is a simple and free way to record your weight and have it displayed over time as a graph. So that’s my graph above.

It doesn’t quite cover a full year, starting in April 2007 and ending today. It’s an interesting pattern of weight gain and weight loss, especially since I haven’t consciously tried to do anything to alter my weight. I lost weight from the spring until mid-June, and then started fairly steadily to accumulate it again. Now I’d expect to start putting on more weight in the fall and especially from Thanksgiving, but I can’t think of any good reason why my weight would start climbing from July onwards, unless perhaps it’s a seasonal thing connected with day-length. Right now I’m losing weight, but again I’m not trying to do anything to achieve this. Last night, for example, I had a bottle of beer and a bad of corn chips. Today I had a chocolate croissant. Believe me, I am not dieting! I’m also not doing any exercise, because I have a broken toe and don’t even walk much, never mind run or do anything strenuous.

Anyone have any similar experiences of seasonal weight changes that go beyond the mere accumulation of weight around Thanksgiving/Christmas?

P.S. You’ll notice from the “searching” message in the screenshot that the AT&T service in my area is totally useless. I was told I’d have one bar inside my house, but often I can’t even get one bar when I step outside.

Hellelujah! (I mean “Sadhu!”)

bodhipaksa — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:45:53 +0000

Given that one of the greatest inconveniences and deficiencies of the iPhone is the lack of any ability to copy and paste, and given that the second major revision of the device’s operating system lacked that ability, I have to wonder if Steve Jobs has no ability to blush. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone is an astonishing invention. It brings near-ubiquitous access to the web, and does that in a way that is esthetically pleasing and eminently practical. But literally millions of jaws dropped when 2.0 came out and Apple continued to pretend that copy-and-paste was so unimportant that they simply didn’t need to include it. (Currently, the lack of c&p is the second most popular grouse on Please Fix The iPhone). It reminds me of an old British beer commercial where a man asks for a particular kind of beer and is told, “Sorry, mate, we don’t sell it. You must be the hundredth person I’ve told today — there’s no demand.”

Kludges have been attempted, and some have worked, but Apple — adding injury to insult — pulled functioning applications from their store. Like I said, no ability to blush.

But now (and I humbly thank Gizmodo for the news) a company has created a web-based application that allows for copying and pasting. It looks good, as I think you’ll agree from the video above. As long as Apple doesn’t block access to the site I think we’ll be set.

Now I’ll be able not only to tweet from my iPod Touch, but I’ll be able to copy and paste tinyurls to articles I want to share with my friends. The world has just become a better place in which to live. Or it will, tomorrow, when Pastebud is scheduled to go live. If the site doesn’t crash under the weight of traffic.