Jumpdancing — a new dance style that’s becoming ludicrously popular right now in Europe. Expect to see it here soon.

If this information were understood by the American people, we would not be in Iraq right now.

[ Link: What Every American Should Know About Iraq ]

The rumors about Google and Apple are getting more serious. Most recently the fuel has come from a New York Magazine article:

Some of his friends say these close calls have mellowed him. “I see him around the neighborhood,” says one. “He looks different than he did a few years ago. I think he may want to do something else.”

Say what? “I think that Google is going to buy Apple,” this person says. “It would be a victory for Apple; they’d get major-league partners, money, and engineers. And it would be a victory for Steve—a huge win that lets him leave the stage.”

Is this a rumor? Yes. But this is the type of rumor you should pay attention to.

Add to this the fact that a close friend of mine is a system administrator who works on Macs and gets regularly taken out by her local Apple representative. Well, a few months back this person pretty much said exactly the same thing — that Jobs was stepping down, and that it would be Google stepping in. He didn’t give details (he probably didn’t have any anyway), but that part was clear — Google in charge of Apple.

Of course, commentary from some Apple representative doesn’t make a rumor true, but there’s more. The most compelling thing about the story is the fact that it makes perfect sense.

• There have been numerous hints that Jobs may be stepping down soon — not the least of which being his numerous run-ins with cancer.
• Eric Schmidt joins Jobs on stage at MacWorld to discuss them working together extensively.
• Eric Schmidt recently joined the Apple board of directors.
• They are both Microsoft arch-enemies.
• Jobs is very paternal when it comes to his baby (Apple). It makes sense that he’d encourage the board to pick someone like Google to take over because he doesn’t trust anyone else to follow his vision.

So when you combine the recent comments made with the fact that there’s been speculation about a merger since before MacWorld, and an actual Apple rep clearly saying this was privately being discussed…uh, yeah — it’s at least worth considering as a possibility.

I can’t possibly imagine the pain in Microsoft’s collective face if this were to actually take place. It’ll be a sad day in Redmond, that’s for sure.:

 

One does not become more intelligent or wise simply by being born in a more modern age. The knowledge and understanding of previous generations is not absorbed through some default means.

No. To gain that knowledge we must read. We must actively seek out those shoulders before we can stand on them, and I for one am tired of stumbling upon profound wisdom that should have been part of my early education. Here’s what I’m doing about it:

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtinfluential.html

I am building a master book list. Please let me know, either by comments here or via email, what you think should be included. The only criteria is that they should be must-reads — i.e. books that should, in your opinion, be required reading of all humans during secondary education and/or university. I’d prefer your favorite classics, but new books are fine too.

I’ve received a myriad of comments about my Bimbo/Caveman essay, including some from my fiance. Many were quite positive, but the majority were negative. What I saw being reflected back to me was a clearly misogynist overtone, which was not the goal of the piece.

As such, I’ve spent some time rewriting it tonight and am happier with it now. I’ve kept the key points and have hopefully eliminated the portions that were easiest to misinterpret. Comments are welcome:

[ The Bimbo and the Caveman: V2 ]

1. People who can say “www” really fast.

Saying duhb-ool-you three times in a row should require effort and cause you to go slowly. If it doesn’t, you have special powers and need to be isolated from the rest of us.

 

 

(** Keep in mind the fact that I’m getting an iPhone on release day)

So I’m sure you’ve seen the news about the iPhone’s battery life being bumped up to 8 hours. I call mierda del toro. I smell something foul going on here. I think that the battery life is WAY below 8 hours, 5 hours, or even 3 hours. I think it’s insanely short, and that this bump was a way to try and reduce the impact at the last minute.

I say this mostly because of largely unknown reports of an AT&T employee who says the talk time is only 40 minutes, and because the testing was done in the lab. Of course this “source” also said the whole device is crap, so I guess this could be unsubstantiated like 80% of the other rumors about the device. But I tend to trust the negative rumors more than the positive ones.:

[Edit: It looks like this illustrates that I was in fact wrong, and the battery looks to be quite stout. Awesome news.]

Some pictures from our weekend in Florida.

[ Google Pictures Album: Rosemary Beach, FL ]

I wish I was joking.

There are currently over 35,000 non-US Citizens serving in our military, and the immigration bill currrently being considered would open the door for tens of thousands more to jump to the head of the line if they join.

Sickening.

[ Link: Immigration Bill Has Military-to-Citizenship Loophole ]

Here’s an alternate way of viewing the issue — one that isn’t heard very often.

1. Israel = Palestine. They are the same. All of the land belongs to both groups of people. The Israelis cannot throw out a group of people who lived there before Israel was formed, and the Arabs cannot ask the Jews to leave for the same reason. Like it or not, they are intertwined within a single land.
2. Since the land belongs to both people, so does the government. One government. The Israeli government is NOT a foreign government ruling over a Palestinian one. The Israeli government IS the Palestinian government. In other words, what we have here is not two countries fighting about borders. What we have is one country with a dominant group in power (Jews) that is oppressing another group (Palestinians).
3. The situation is not like France and Germany fighting for borders; it’s more like the United States putting tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans into camps because they thought they were dangerous. In Israel’s case the Palestinians have actually proven to be dangerous on numerous occasions, but you may wonder if they would be so if they were treated as equals in their own country.
4. The two-state solution is not one that benefits the Palestinians. It is instead an elaborate deception designed to further the goals of the Jews in Israel. It does this by creating a separate place where Arabs can be sent in order to maintain the Jewish majority (see purity) of the Israeli state. The Jews are deathly afraid of being legally overthrown from within by the Arabs who reproduce far faster than they do. The only solution is to create a second state and force the Arabs into it — leaving only Jews behind in Israel.

I find this perspective to be quite refreshing. I am not sure if it is correct or not, but if it isn’t I’d like to hear what’s wrong about it. Your opinions would be most appreciated.: