The new iMac
I saw today the posting over at Apple's Web site showing the brand new iMac G5. Looks pretty spiffy,
although it looks eerily similar to the Gateway Profile that was released as a PC alternative to the second-generation iMac. I guess everything that's old is new again.
I'm in the middle of watching one of the million replays of VMAs, and I have a couple of things to say about what I've seen so far:
- Having the Kerry and Bush daughters on to shill for their dads was a dumb idea, as the audience indicated by booing them all. Good idea to have them on to promote the vote, but they really should've left it at that.
- What is wrong with Jessica Simpson? Can't she control her mouth? She really wasn't pronouncing her words correctly at all, which I found very annoying, not to mention the hack job she's done on a great song, "Angel", by Robbie Williams.
- Is it necessary to have the Olsen twins every year?
USA Basketball
Well, for the first time since NBA players started playing in the Olympics, and for only the third time in history, the United States basketball team will not win the gold medal. Everyone seems to be blaming the players, saying that they were playing selfishly and whatnot. To those people I say this: you didn't watch the games very closely. Yes, the team had some trouble initially, but they were playing good basketball, with the exception of not being able to hit an open jumper.
For my money, the blame must go to the USA Basketball association itself. With the Dream Team, they struck gold (literally) and thought from that point on all they would need to do is provide 12 NBA players and the gold would be taken care of. What most Olympic viewers don't realize is that these NBA-based teams only get together one or two weeks before their first exhibition game. When you have great players like Bird, Jordan, and Johnson, you can throw them together in a day and they will play great basketball. But when you're dealing with the B- and C-level players in the NBA, they need more than a week of practice to come together as a team.
I applaud the players who took time off from their summer to play for our country in the Olympics; I applaud them whole-heartedly for giving their Olympic salaries to charity. But USA Basketball did them wrong by not providing them with adequate practice time or training. Combine that with the lack of international experience, and you have the recipe for disaster.
Some more food for thought: the USA soccer team won gold with five players that have been playing together for the past 15 years on the national team; the USA women's basketball team features five players that have played together for about 8 years; the gold medal winning USA softball team was 45-0 before they ever set foot in Athens.
Using only college kids, the USA won gold medals all but two times (and one time was very questionable). These kids played together on the international team for at least a year before going to the Olympics. If it's a choice between having NBA players with one week of practice or college kids with a year of practice, I choose the college kids, hands down. They weren't doing a bad job in the first place, and they would actually have something to prove to the world (go see the movie Miracle). If USA Basketball wants to restore glory to the men's division, it had best get its act together.
Making the Switch
I have finally done it: I've done away with using both Internet Explorer and Outlook at home. I'm completely switched now to using Firefox for Web browsing and Thunderbird for all my e-mail needs, and let me tell you, I am loving it.
The only thing I miss is the ability to sync with my PDA, which I'm hoping will be added to Thunderbird soon.
Ugh
An ugly, ugly day of sports viewing in my place today. First there was the USA Basketball team losing to Lithuania after being up by 10, then the Patriots being completely destroyed by the Bengals...boy does my head hurt. The one thing I loved about the Patriots last year was that they were never out of a game (except for the first game of the season). I always hung in to the very end because they were always close enough to make a run and come away with a win. Not so tonight. They did everything wrong and nothing right. The offensive line was horrible, the defense was worse, and Rohan Davey...this is going to be our backup quarterback? I hope Jim Miller gets better soon.
Long Time, No Blog
I can't believe it's already been two months since I last blogged. I apologize for that, but things have been absolutely crazy! Between moving into my condo and writing my book, my time has been very tight. The condo is finally coming together, and so is the book, which is now 25% done.
I'm working on a new version of the Web site, which will be run by PHP. It'll feature a more useful blog allowing visitor comments, which a lot of people have asked for. It will also feature some of my newer JavaScript projects that are still in development.
