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The perfect food

If you thought it was impossible to take the perfect food and make it better, you were wrong.

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The radar pic of my weather

(Courtesy of the free Forecastbar Enhanced extension for Firefox.)

(It’s animated.)

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iPad: An Apple product I might actually want

Sitting in bed with my wife’s Kindle, I’ve often thought: “I wish this was a real Web browser with a touch screen,” and bemoaned the fact that tablet PCs were fairly bulky. Certainly they’re too big to hold on your chest while in bed.

I planned to get a Sony Daily Edition Reader — a large, touchscreen e-book that can display PDFs and just about every e-book format out there (unlike the Kindle, which really doesn’t like PDFs).

But now comes the iPad, Apple’s entry into the tablet market (only a few years behind, as usual).

Basic edition (which I’m sure runs a Web browser happily), 16GB, Wi-Fi only: $499. The Sony Reader is around $800, and it only displays books and docs. (I could pay $629 for the 16GB model that also does 3G, but I have Wi-Fi where I need it, and I don’t want to use AT&T. It’s 3G coverage is spotty at best, and I don’t need my surfing habits sent to the NSA.)

Only problem is that it’s an Apple product. So that means forthcoming battery problems, only being able to use programs approved by Apple, and generally being locked in. With a Windows-based tablet, you can download any app you want. With the iPad, you’re limited to Apple’s app store.

Oh, and it can’t multitask, which Windows tablets can. Whoa.

On the other hand, it’s thin and light because the keyboard is separate (and sold separately). Windows tablets — for the moment — have the keyboard built in.

Also, if Apple is selling this for $499, that means that PC versions will be forthcoming, less expensive, offer more features, and run an OS I’m familiar with. There are people who will “buy anything if it’s shiny and made by Apple” because they’re brand whores, but that’s not me. I know too many people who are locked into iTunes.

But if smaller, lighter, touchscreen netbooks don’t show up soon, darned straight I’ll be looking at this. Sweet.

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Haiti aerial photos

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has put a couple of dozen aerial photos from Port-au-Prince on its Flickr page. They’re probably the best Haiti photos you’re likely to find (for the time being) showing the massive damage.

You can donate to the relief effort through the Salvation Army (my choice — of all the aid groups, it has among the lowest overhead, so more money actually goes to relief instead of administration).

And, of course, you can text HAITI to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross (it’ll appear on your phone bill).

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Newspaper suggested Haitian earthquake — in 2008

I just came across this while looking for info on Haiti. It’s a blog post written in 2008 called “Possibilty of Earthquake in Port-au-Prince?“

A recent article in Haiti’s Le Matin newspaper has quoted 65 year old geologist and former professor at the Geological Institute of Havana, Patrick Charles, as stating that “conditions are ripe for major seismic activity in Port-au-Prince. The inhabitants of the Haitian capital need to prepare themselves for an event which will inevitably occur…”

Here’s the article (in French) from Le Matin. Click here for Google’s translation.

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You know you’re dealing with lawyers…

…when a simple question — “You wrote ‘Section 4′ here, was that correct?” — takes two people attorneys and 15 minutes to answer.

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