Fallen Into Knowledge

After classes today I hung out at PSU until 6pm so I could pick up my copy of Tiger from the campus bookstore.
Some observations on the New OS:
Dashboard is cool:  I think this is much more than mere eye candy:  some of widgets I’ll be using most:  the weather tracker, the dictionary/thesaurous the calculator, and the “wikit:” a stickynote program on steroids.
Spotlight is also cool:  I see myself using it whenever I need to find contacts or documents - it is faster to use Spotlight than to use the Finder even if I know right where the file is
Automator:  this one will take some time to learn, and I’m not sure that I’ll use it all that much, but I will be glad its there when I do want it.
Mail:  I’m not sure I’m a fan of the new look, but the smart-folders idea is great.
And the coolest - eyecandy-wise - feature is quicktime seven.  When streaming a movie trailer, I have to minimize it to make it fit on the screen!  And High Def (1080i) video is super sharp.  Very cool.
Well, Off to bed, we’ll see if spotlight is done indexing my morning…

Okay, this is crazy:

1. build a tall bike: stack two bike frames on top of each other and weld.

2. learn to ride the tall bike

3. take one 10 foot piece of PVC pipe and attach one boxing glove to the end

4. get together with a bunch of people who have done steps 1-3 themselves

5. Attempt to knock each other off the bikes - medieval-style.

Amongst all the other great articles on Sojourner’s website, William T. Cavanaugh has written, “when enough is enough,” about Christians and consumerism.
I hear some definite Marxist overtones - which isn’t a bad thing.
(and yes I am aware of the irony in posting about the evils of consumerism after posting about how much I like my new computer.  Deal with it)

I noticed that as of today i have been carrying around this laptop for a month.  Here are some statistics:

Number of times crashed:  0
Uptime, as of now:  ten days, seven hours, twenty-two minutes
Reason for last Reboot:  System Update to 10.3.9

Disk space:  28.16 GB free, out of 74 GB total
19 GB - music files
9 GB - Video Files
1.5 GB - Pictures
200 MB - Document Files

Emails this month, not including spam:  859.  (for an average of almost 30 per day)

It has been nice to have access to voice-mail, email, IM almost everywhere.  It has also been nice to take notes in class (I type faster than I write, and it tends to be more legible), to have eBook versions of the texts being discussed along side the Notes (I can search the text, cut and paste into the notes, and I have to take fewer books with me every day), and to write papers at the library.
I amazed at how much more useful laptops are now than they were when I got my first one in 1997 (as a graduation gift from my parents).  that one was a Pentium 150 with 16MB of RAM, and a 1.4 GB Harddrive and (!) a built-in CD-ROM drive:  this was about the best laptop money could then buy.  the current machine, 8 years later:  1.5 Ghz (G4 processor), 512 MB of RAM, 80 GB Harddrive, and a DVD/CD-RW drive.
I sometimes think how someone traveling forward in history even from the early 90’s would react to the world of today (surely not all of the reactions would be positive), let alone someone from the 50’s.  It boggles the mind.

Critical Mass is Friday.  Meet in the North Park Blocks, in front of the Powells Technical Bookstore at ~5:30, leave at 6:00.  It is shaping up to be a great ride.
The Mass also plays host to the word of the day: Xerocracy.
“And bring your fliers to pass out, help maintain a healthy xerocracy.” -Elly

Today, instead of doing school-reading like I should have, I read “This Place on Earth,” which is about Northwest ecology, both what has been done, and also what could be / needs to be done.
Here is a nugget of wisdom:

Community, I am beginning to understand, is made through a skill I have never learned or valued: the ability to pass time with people you do not know or will not know well, talking about nothing in particular, with no end in mind, just to build trust, just to be sure of each other, just to be neighborly. A community is not something you have, like a camcorder or a breakfast nook. No, it is something you do. And you have to do it all the time.

I have been without car since the end of last summer, which means that most of my time getting used to living without one has been during the winter.  Admittedly, the winter was mild; nonetheless, I have found using my bicycle as the primary form for my transportation to be enjoyable even in less than pristine weather.
Today, while racing from Multnomah Bible College to PSU in shirtsleeves, with the sun shining, and without any wind, I found myself grinning from ear to ear.  I am looking forward to summer in portland without a car.  It is a great pleasure to ride in weather like this, and  I highly recommend it.

Below this point lies all the posts originally posted to christopherlayton.blogspot.com

Okay, forget the cosmetic changes. This Blog has moved. It has decided to join my Website. Afterall, it was kinda ridiculous to have a website at one address and a blog at another. So head over to www.christopherlayton.org and let me know what you think of the new digs.

I had grown tired of the look of the blog, and tired of the title; and so finally being inspired by Joyce, I decided to make a leap of Faith.
The new title is inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost:

“Out of the fertil ground he caus’d to grow
All Trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
And all amid them stood the Tree of Life,
High eminent, blooming Ambrosial Fruit
Of vegetable Gold; and next to Life
Our Death the Tree of Knowledge grew fast by,
Knowledge of Good bought dear by knowing ill.”