"Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy"

Truth.

But what I wonder; millions of people have and will see this clip, agree wholeheartedly, and yet we go right back to complaining and demanding our illusionary self rights. What does this tell us about humanity?

Stacks & "Put Back"

While I'm on the topic of Apple...

I have been using Safari 4 Beta the last day, and it is SMOKIN! So quick (Here are some stats to back up my experience). "Top Sites" is brilliant. This is potentially a "Can't live without" feature in the making. Cover flow makes searching site history a dream. I am going to give it until March 8th to see if it will overthrow Firefox's reign on my web-browsing. Definite potential.

Beyond Safari, there is some exciting things tid-bits that have been revealed about Snow Leopard. The "put back" option for files that have been trashed seems like a given. I have gone to my trash wishing I could restore a file back to its original location on multiple occasions.

Apple has continually tweaked Stacks. On its first interpretation it seemed more gimmicky then functional. But by adding the ability to view as list, and now with the upcoming ability to graphically drill down into folders (as shown in the following video), Stacks is showing promise.

THE-browser

Sitting in my Latin-American Literature class, fueled by an Americano, and drowning in the clutter of 5 word processor* windows; an epiphany entangled by a rant is brewing. Disorientated and frustrated I climb out of the clutter of my documents into my web-browser. Refreshing. Sweet freedom. I peacefully roam the wondrous beauty of the Internet, flipping from tab to tab.

A tabbed word processor seems obvious**, no?

This raises other user-interface thoughts that are even more foundational. With so many fully functional and convenient web-based alternatives (which are naturally tabbed), at what point does it make more sense to simply run your word processor (and beyond) out of a web-browser?

But maybe these thoughts are being sparked by the beta release of Safari 4. With the application of features like cover flow and full history search to the web-browser it feels amazingly similar to Apples media-browser iTunes 8, and even more importantly, Leopard's system-browser, Finder.

You see where I am going with this?

THE-browser*** will be the unifying hub for daily multipurpose use. A single process (web, media, system etc) tabbed browser with sub tabs.

Maybe OS XI?

*It should be noted, I am using Word 2004 on OS X. Not exactly the standard in user experience. Consequently, Expose, remedies this frustration beautifully. But for the sake of the post, we will ignore that work of Apple genius.
**I am well aware that such alternatives exist. As you will see, I am merely using this as a catchy intro to set up my thesis for an efficient unified user interface.
***Which is more a OS UI heavily influenced by modern browser designs.

Le Café

For all the coffee addicts out there:

le Café - Oldelaf (english subtitles)
Uploaded by Boebis

Checkout some of their other music on Myspace: Oldelaf et Monsieur D. I am really digging Nathalie and 3 couleurs; though I'm not quite sure what the songs are about. Feel free to provide me with a translation or throw any other good French music my direction.

The Lorax

I'm going to watch this with my "Garbage Kids" (an environmental sustainability class) at Davis Elementary today:

Link-O-Rama 02/17/09

I'm throwing this one together in a hurry, sorry there are no pretty pictures.

• Anyone travel to Sisters? Thoughts? Elena and I are considering Five Pine Lodge for our honeymoon. Their Romance Cottage Suite looks amazing!
• I wonder how many CEO's have the integrity to pull out an economic stimulus package of their own wallet. That's exactly what Leonard Abess Jr. did. $60 million divided up to all 399 employees plus another 72 former employees that he tracked down. Beautiful! (The Huffington Post)
• Obama upholds Bush's faith policy allowing religious organization to hire employees based on beliefs (LA Times). Even more interesting was a comment left on digg by the user TotalAttorneys who defended Obama's decision:

It would be so great if people would learn what the word "discrimination" meant in legal terms before throwing it around so readily. It is a long established principle of U.S. Constitutional law that there is a distinction between unlawful "discrimination" and the application of bona fide occupational qualifications. It seems a bit absurd to suggest that it's NOT a bona fide occupational qualification that one agree with the mission of an organization and be in a position to carry it out if he's to be hired and tasked with that responsibility. It's not considered "discrimination" to require that lifeguards be able to swim, or that the people conducting strip searches in women's prisons be female--how is it "discrimination" to require that someone being hired to provide Christian ministry be Christian?

Since our current President understands Constitutional law, he presumably understands this distinction.

• The Playground Project. A very revealing, brutally raw documentary facing how the United States plays a role in the global demand and growth of the sex trafficking industry.
• There are many Cuban immigrants living in our apartments. As such, Cuban news has peaked my interest. Recently Spain announced it is offering a get-out-of-Cuba card to 200,000 individuals. (Miami Herald)
• Top Gear is going to space! (Autoblog) The most interesting part of article is Hammond's statement on going to space in the wake of a global economic crises:

Because of the hard times everyone is facing, we need to go ridiculous on Top Gear. We need faster cars and bigger stunts. Nobody can afford to go out and buy a car, so there is no real point in us reviewing them. We might as well concentrate on escapism and fantasy.

• The extreme irony of this event blows my mind. The founder of a US Muslim TV network has been charged over the beheading of his wife after his wife had filed for divorce because of domestic abuse (BBC). Here's the mind blower: Mr Hassan and his wife worked at Bridges TV, a station aimed at countering stereotypes of Muslims. I still can't believe this is on BBC and not The Onion.

"Repeat After Me: I Am Free"

Beautiful social commentary:

Link-O-Rama 02/03/09

I have 200 pages to read and 15 pages to write but I can delay a bit longer.

• 20 Health Benefits of Coffee.
• Windows 7 vs. Snow Leapord. A (biased) commentary of the two competitors and their contrasting strategies. My favorite part: Windows is pitching a 15 year old feature - "screen dimming" to save battery - as a selling point.
  
• But there are some things Microsoft just doesn't learn: 6 versions of Windows 7!? Are you serious? Come on Bill...
• Objectified. Documentary "about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them".
• Why do freeways come to a stop?
• Finally my vehement criticism of High Fructose Corn Syrup is vindicated! Research finds risk of Mercury.
  
• A chain of events unravel in the first week of Obama's presidency: FDA greenlights stem cell research, end of abortion fund ban, Quantanamo closed, and email comes to the whitehouse.
• Obama has taken so respectable intiatives in the midst of the economic crisis. Obama has said "his administration will be held accountable for the success or failure of his economic stimulus plan" (BBC). And Recovery.gov will (semi)transparently track how the $825 billion will be spend.
  
• I posted interesting pictures of what families all across the world eat in a week. Thanks to a friendly blogger who gave me the tip, the pictures are from Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.
• Twist is a spiffy web app tracking chatter on twitter.
  

Honeymoon in Disneyland?

Elena and I have been discussing where to go for our honeymoon. Disneyland was mentioned but I had no idea she'd go this far. I have no idea how she got Disney to do this! It even made the news!

We are open to suggestions if you can make a good pitch.

Kirk & Aslan

In case you missed the good news, the Narnia saga will continue at least through The Voyage of Dawn Treader. After I first caught wind that LWW was in the works through being slightly disappointed with PC, I have been saying Dawn Treader would make the best movie. Thankfully we will get to see if that holds to be true.

Instead of watching the superbowl, I'm studiously working on a psychology paper; apparently not studiously enough to miss the latest Star Trek trailer hitting the net (and blogging about it):