If you had any doubts as to how far out nowhere the new Apple store is, take a look at the corner it sits on.
This picture is Williams Field Rd and SanTan Village Parkway, looking at the northwest corner. SanTan Village is the northeast corner.
Yes, that’s a big pile of hay.
What’s on my iTunes right now?
Main Theme From The Saint from the album “Music From The TV Series The Saint†by Edwin Astley
With all the excitement of Leopard this weekend, it’s easy to gloss over the other important event – the opening of a new Apple store just a scant 36 miles from my home.
36 miles from your home, you say? Surely that’s out in the middle of nowhere!? You’re right, it is. The trouble is, these days, lots of people live in the middle of nowhere. They’ve ruined nowhere for the rest of us. Since nowhere has been ruined, we might as well look for the silver lining, and that lining would be the Apple store.
This store follows the new trend, the elimination of cash registers. All transactions are processed on small hand-held devices and the receipt is e-mailed to you. I think they piloted this either last year or the year before at Christmas time and the iPod express table. I’ve also noticed lately that they use this technique when the line to check out is getting long.
Apparently the in-store testing has been successful enough that not only is this new store devoid of any visible registers, but they told me they’d be redoing the other two stores in Phoenix soon as well.
Darn clever of them. You talk to an associate, you’ve decided you’re going to take it and he whips out his portable register and you’re paid for and gone. Conversely, if you want to buy something, you have to get the attention of an associate.
I think maybe the associate I spoke with wasn’t the most knowledgeable, but he was friendly and efficient. I asked him about Leopard’s lack of Classic mode.
“Yes, that’s right,†he said.
“So, that means any of the programs over there that have minimum requirements of System 7, 8 or 9 probably use Classic, and therefore won’t work under Leopard.â€
“No, not really,†he says, “most programs are dual binary.â€
BZZZZT. Wrong answer, I do believe. Dual binary deals with PowerPC/Intel programming, but anything that runs under System 9 or less must be a classic-style program.
I’m surprised Apple didn’t yank them off the shelves, or at least put them in a “Does not run under Leopard†shelf.
I spoke to a couple of the people standing at the front door, greeting people. They said last night at the grand opening and Leopard release they did have over a thousand people. I assume they knew that because they ran out of shirts. Today, the store seemed to be having a steady load of visitors.
This weekend was also the grand opening of SanTan Village which is very large, yet quite strange indeed. I don’t think I like the idea of a shopping plaza with parking right up to the stores. Perhaps they’re trying to reinvent the High Street concept.
What’s on my iTunes right now?
Boat Chase from the album “Live And Let Die†by George Martin
Technorati Tags: Apple, Blog, Computer, Mac, OSX, Technology
ABC 15 => Local ‘green’ homes come with impressive amenitiesOne again, I’m always pleased to report this kind of stuff. Especially so when it’s right close to home.
A local developer hopes his new project may not only make people homeowners, but heroes to the environment.
Aura at Camelback will be the first environmentally friendly subdivision in the Valley.
Solar panels, underground garages, water-conserving toilets and dryscaping (ie, dirt lawns) are all a start, but I wish the article provided info on the subdivision. That really isn’t all that radical.
So, I went looking and found this article in the Phoenix Business Journal, which gives a bit more detail. The project meets LEED standards.
I’m not going to buy one, but I can’t wait to go see what they’ve done. Although I always have wanted my own elevator and an underground lair. It would be like living at SHADO headquarters!
Technorati Tags: Arizona, Blog, Environment, Technology
After being delayed from a morning to afternoon delivery, my Leopard family pack is finally here and I’m installing it on my first test machine.
The first machine installed will be my very first Mac, a PowerMac G4, Dual 1.33 GHz. I use this machine for my iTunes server for my Apple TV. It also runs various long running server type functions for me.
3:35 PM Started OSX 10.5 Leopard install.
4:24 PM Holy Temporal Stasis, Batman! It took this long just to verify the integrity of the install DVD!!!!
4:32 PM Finally figured out how long it thought it was going to take. 2 Hours 58 Minutes!!!!
4:33 PM Now it thinks it is 1 hour and 43 minutes. The time estimate routine must have been written in Redmond.
4:44 PM I could be in line at the Apple store waiting to buy Leopard, instead I’m going to go to Costco. A minute ago, it said 1 hour 53 minutes, now it says 28 minutes. What am I to believe?
6:13 PM Back from Costco. Yum, free samples fried chicken and shortbread. Leopard install is asking my Apple ID. Which one should I use?
6:15 PM Software updates, already?! Oh, it’s only Backup and Remote Desktop Client.
6:30 PM Yeah, OK, it’s nice and all. Seems like it might be a bit faster.
I missed seeing the intro movie. I had heard it was a masterpiece of post-modernist angst. Perhaps I’ll catch it on DVD.
Another piece of old writing that I found in a disused directory on my hard drive labeled “Beware of the Leopard.â€
You’ll need to take yourself back to the heady days of the 20th century, when my entire industry was head over heels entrenched in the so-called “Y2K Problem.†It made some of us go just a little bit crazy.
What is the Year 2000 Plumbing Problem?
Every 1,000 years, the Earth’s rotation and axial tilt passes beyond the Prime Meridian, causing a reversal of the Coriolis Force. This effect is virtually unnoticeable to humans and animals, but effects the way water moves across the surface of the planet.
Up till now, water moves in a clockwise rotation in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere. In the year 2000 at the beginning of the new lunar year (January 21st, corresponding with the Chinese New Year) the axial rotation will have changed sufficiently that the Coriolis Force will be split between the East and Western Hemispheres rather than North/South.
If it is imperceptible to humans and animals, why is this a problem?
I said “virtually unnoticeable†— not “imperceptibleâ€. Scientific evidence indicates that some people experience difficulty sleeping, minor problems with the equilibrium and in some extreme cases, severe constipation. Generally the symptoms pass within a few days. These physiological problems are not, however, the cause of the Year 2000 Plumbing problem. In fact, constipation may actually delay the effects of the Year 2000 Problem.
The earliest recorded use of indoor plumbing is attributed to the Anasazi Indians some 950 years ago, but they consisted mostly of a large dry hole with a containment system deep underneath. The containment system was periodically emptied manually.
The modern “water closet†variety of toilet was only developed into its current form in England during the 19th Century by Thomas Crapper. During the entire existence of the flushing toilet, the rotation of the flushing water has remained constant.
With the Earth’s new axial alignment, toilets in the Western hemisphere will rotate anti-clockwise, while those in the Eastern Hemisphere with rotate clockwise. The result will be much the same as if currently a northern hemisphere toilet is installed in Australia — the water will be forcibly ejected from the toilet during the flushing cycle.
The original designers of the toilet simply failed to take this natural, inevitable change into account. (Or, if they did take it into account, they decided they would not have the nightmare of retrofitting when the Year 2000 came rolling along some 150+ years later.)
The problem is compounded by the extreme popularity of flushing toilets. The latest polls reveal that some 98% of all US households have flush toilets. Even in underdeveloped countries such as France, indoor toilets comprise nearly 40% of all restroom facilities
Are all toilets affected?
No.
Many “mobile†toilets, such as those on airplanes have been designed to work properly under any Coriolis conditions. Engineers have long understood the negative effect of crossing the Coriolis boundary where the results could be catastrophic. Persons in the process of flushing toilet while crossing the Equator could easily be drowned.
While airplane toilets use Brownian Motion to suppress the potentially damaging effects of transversing the equator, this is impractical in the standard home water closet, which does not have the added pressure differential between the cabin and the outside.
Another type of toilet that is unaffected is the newer “low water consumption†models which partially use suction to drain the bowl using less water than the traditional toilet.
What must I do?
Don’t panic. Toilet replacement is a relatively simple process, but you should evaluate your exposure now.
| North/South | East/West | Year 2000 Problem? |
|---|---|---|
| North | East | No |
| North | West | Yes |
| South | East | Yes |
| South | West | No |
Are only toilets affected?
Absolutely not!
The inexorable laws of physics demand that the effect happen to any kind plumbing that swirls water (or indeed any liquid, except for certain NASA developed Coriolis resistant chemicals used aboard the Space Shuttle). This includes sinks and bathtubs; however, the ramifications of not completing Year 2000 conversions are less severe than those of toilets.
What about Swimming Pools?
A swimming pool is a unique case, standing water should be fine, and so, in general you can leave your swimming pool as it is; however, when it comes to draining the pool a unique problem develops.
Normally, a pool does not have a large drain, so that when the pool is emptied it rarely creates a whirlpool effect. (This does not apply to pools with a huge cork stopper at the bottom.) But, once the water level drops low enough, a whirlpool forms. Once it forms, it will be rotating the wrong way and the water will be expelled into the air, but not with enough force to escape the sides of the pool. Thusly, the water cannot escape and attempts to drain again, repeating the cycle.
Water evaporation prevents this from being a practical source of Perpetual Motion Energy, but a team of French scientists are further researching the possibilities. (FAQ Editor’s note: What a shame France is unaffected by the Year 2000 situation!)
Most pool manufacturers recommend that you drain your pool prior to 1/21/2000 and refill it afterwards. You will then have several years before you need to deal with the Year 2000 problem, and if you’re like most pool owners you will have sold your house and moved into a new house that doesn’t have a pool.
Did I ever mention one of my best friends is an extinct pleistocene ground sloth?
Science Daily => Carnivorous Dinosaur Tracks Discovered In Australia
The three separate dinosaur tracks are about 14 inches long, show at least two or three partial toes, and were likely made by large carnivorous dinosaurs (theropods) on river floodplains about 115 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. Based on track sizes, Martin estimates that these dinosaurs were 4.6 to 4.9 feet tall at the hip, large by human standards but about 20 percent smaller than Allosaurus, a large theropod from the Jurassic Period.
Australia and Antarctica were joined during the Cretaceous and sat near the south pole.
My question is: Are dinosaur walking appendages called paws or feet? The post title doesn’t sound so good as “Southern Feet.â€
What’s on my iTunes right now?
ONLY ONE (M-35) from the album “
Technorati Tags: Blog, Paleontology, Science
Reuters UK => China builds 1.5 km dam to protect dinosaur site
Representative democracy is too difficult for the Chinese to build, but they sure can build dams.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has built a large earth dam to protect a dinosaur fossil site from being washed away by floods, state media said on Tuesday.
Workers in China’s northern Heilongjiang province took three years to complete the 1,450 meter (4,757 ft) long embankment, the Xinhua news agency said.
“The embankment could effectively protect the dinosaur mountain from threats of water erosion and floods,†Li Jinshan, vice director of Jiayin Dinosaur National Geologic Park Administrative Bureau, was quoted as saying.
To be fair, I’ve got no complaints about this project.
What’s on my iTunes right now?
Taxman from the album “Revolver†by The Beatles
Technorati Tags: Blog, Chinese, Dinosaur, Dinosaurs, Paleontology
Science Daily => Best Solar Homes: German Team Wins Solar Decathlon
I can always get behind this type of stuff.
The Solar Decathlon challenged 20 college and university teams to compete in 10 contests and design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home.
and
This team from Germany came to the Solar Decathlon hoping to have an impact on people, and it’s safe to say that this happened. Darmstadt won the Architecture, Lighting, and Engineering contests. The Architecture Jury said the house pushed the envelope on all levels and is the type of house they came to the Decathlon hoping to see. The Lighting Jury loved the way this house glows at night. The Engineering Jury gave this team an innovation score that was as high as you could go, and said nobody did the integration of the PV system any better. Darmstadt was one of seven teams to score a perfect 100 points in the Energy Balance contest. All week, long lines of people waited to get into this house. Total points – 1024.85
Pity they didn’t describe how the houses achieved their win and what the technologies used were.
And why does the house glow at night?
What’s on my iTunes right now?
Regimental Company March from the album “The Bagpipes & Drums Of Scotland†by The Gordon Highlanders
BBC => BBC Trust approves bbc.com proposal
The BBC Trust has approved proposals for the BBC to establish bbc.com, a commercial venture to offer advertising on the BBC’s international online service for users outside the UK. UK users’ experience of bbc.co.uk will not be affected.
bbc.com will deliver a new flow of income from international visitors into the BBC for investment in its core journalistic mission and capabilities, and into BBC Worldwide and BBC Global News to strengthen the range and reach of their offering to international audiences.
In principal, this sounds fair. UK citizens pay their license fee and they deserve their web and TV content to be “free.†Foreigners are getting a “free ride†and I’ve long held that isn’t fair and would I voluntarily pay the license fee if it was an option.
But, on the other hand, there’s a whole lot more of us than there are UK citizens. What happens if the monetization stream of the BBC becomes heavily weighted by foreign revenue? Would that cloud their editorial or program-making decisions? It’s always been a slippery slope for the BBC, ever since they started selling their programs overseas, but are they greasing up their own pole with this decision?
What’s on my iTunes right now?
MechaGodzilla Flies At Full Speed from the album “Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla†by Akira Ifukube
Technorati Tags: Blog, Television, UK