Mighty Mouse Saves the Day?
Apple announced their new Mighty Mouse today. It looks pretty innovative in design — certainly, it is not just a “me too” entry from Apple. The time for a multi-button mouse from Cupertino is finally here, which is not a moment too soon, in my estimation. Ideally, Apple will soon make the Mighty Mouse standard equipment and offer a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse as its premium mouse.
I have not actually tried the Mighty Mouse yet, but I am considering buy a new mouse, so if they offer a Bluetooth one before I buy something else, I may seriously consider it. I especially like the Mighty Mouse's innovative scroll ball, which makes more sense than the tilting wheel method of offering horizontal scrolling on a wheel mouse. It would have been better with two or three side buttons, or perhaps a way to squeeze it different amounts to activate different functions, but at least it has enough buttons to run Dashboard and Expose.
Price wise, it is a bit steep at $49 for a corded mouse with a standard optical system, but that comes with the territory. Anyone reading this planning to buy a Mighty Mouse? It works with Windows as a standard HID device, so I'm presuming it will work on GNU/Linux as well.
New Challenge Round Starts with the Music Man
Well, Christopher was right, it was indeed Meredith Willson's the Music Man that we went to see yesterday. Kevin, being the ever resourceful fellow that he is, also did a good job confirming this guess. I think since I read my Challenge small print from last fall and found that the game was suppose to end by the beginning of June, I'll start the counter over. I guess I made it too hard, since no one managed to win, despite a lot of really worthy efforts. Both Christopher and Kevin now have 15 asisaid-2k5 points (I'll keep “lifetime” tallies as well, but for this round, we'll start from scratch).
This was my second time seeing the Music Man within about a year, the last time being at the Muny at the end of July 2004. I'll talk more about the reprise in a post in a few days, along with my promised Mame review.
Just so that you know I wasn't in a strange mood, let me take out the hints from my last post and identify them:
- Not even a copy of Captain Billy’s Wizbang could have beaten it! The publication Captain Billy's Wizbang is one of the things Prof. Hill points to as an indication of child in the grips of the kind of trouble that arrives with a pool table. He references it in the song “Ya Got Trouble.” Oh, ya got trouble. Terrible, terrible trouble!
- No there where no white knights in the play or angels with wings. “A Lancelot” or an angels with wings are what Marian Paroo says she is not looking for in her white knight in the song “My White Knight.” Trivia fact: My White Knight was replaced by “Being in Love” in the 1962 movie version of the musical.
- The great Creatore or John Philips Sousa. Both of these musical savants appeared, among other greats, in the same town, on the same day, when 76 trombones led the big parade. At least that's what Harold Hill says happens in the segue from “Ya Got Trouble (Reprise)” into “76 Trombones.”
- ”I don’t believe I caught the name of the play.” I don’t believe I dropped it. One of the salesmen immediately after the opening song (“Rock Island”) asks Hill for his name after the good “professor” says he'll have to try selling in Iowa sometime (another salesman has just been discussing how bad Hill is, how he'd like to get his hands on him, but how Hill would never bother coming someplace as hard to sell at as Iowa). When one man says “I don't believe I caught your name,” Hill replies “I don't believe I dropped it,” as he reveals his suitcase, with his name on it, to the audience.
What Else? The Piper Pays Him!
Well, this summer has been a summer of musicals. What could be better than that? Today, I saw what was likely the last musical of the season. My great aunt celebrated her 94th birthday this week, and so my parents and myself went with her to a musical at the community college as something different to give her. I think she liked that a lot more than anything else we could have given her (not even a copy of Captain Billy's Wizbang could have beaten it!).
There was almost trouble in St. Charles city, though. Being a small time event, we did not have tickets ahead of time. When we arrived this afternoon, the theater was sold out. Fortunately, we stuck around to get a “waiting list” number, and ended up with some really nice seats. My dad and myself took two seats in the third row, while my aunt and mother took front row seats. The cost for four people? A mere $14.
No there where no white knights in the play or angels with wings, but we enjoyed an amazing performance given the price and setting. The scenery was not anything spectacular, but was “good enough.” The performers all gave a five star performance; in fact, I think there were less mistakes in this small time play than in the Muny version of Mame (although the heat on last Monday may have been the cause for that!). The orchestra might not have been as good as the ones at a more professional production (or ones that would have been conducted by the great Creatore or John Philips Sousa), but they did an almost flawless job on all but the most difficult numbers.
Now, I know what you are saying: “I don't believe I caught the name of the play.” I don't believe I dropped it. 15 Challenge points for the person who can guess what the play was without using Google (or another general purpose search engine).
Book Meme
Christopher tagged me to do a book meme. This was rather fun. I've tagged five more people below, but even if you are not tagged, consider giving your answers below or on your own blog.
1) How many books have I owned?
I'd have to answer the same as Christopher. I have no idea. What can I tell you? I can say that my book collection is growing, not shrinking, because I do not believe in disposing of books and I also cannot resist a good deal on books (I bought six or seven books in the clearance area of Borders a few weeks back).
2) What was the last book you bought?I purchased the Rule of Four at Costco for $4.25 a week or two ago.
“Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets — to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled — until an ancient diary surfaces. What Tom and Paul discover inside shocks even them: proof that the location of a hidden crypt has been ciphered within the pages of the obscure Renaissance text.”
I read the prologue, and it sounded pretty good. For the price, how could I pass it up? It is $7.99 at Amazon.
3) Last book that you’ve read.
The last book I read was iCon: The Greatest Second Act in Business by Jeffery Young and William Simon. I'm going to post my final thoughts on that book later. You can find some half-way-through impressions, here.
I am presently reading two books. I am reading Brad Thor's State of the Union and C.S. Lewis' the Screwtape Letters, with Screwtape Proposes a Toast. The former I saw at the grocery store's mainline back in June and was intrigued by the endorsement quote by Dan Brown on the front. I went back the next week and they no longer carried it. I finally got it at Borders, which, like Amazon, but unlike the grocery store, was selling it for the cover price rather than at a discount ($7.99). It has a pretty good plot, after you get past the initial disorientation of each early chapter jumping to a new character. Now, I want to know what will happen. Sadly, its language and some events are a bit crude for my taste; while most pop novels use some language, this one has a particular penchant for the f-word. Unlike the Da Vinci Code, I'd have major reservations about recommending it for that reason.
The Screwtape Letters is such a good book. Several years ago, I read a good chunk of it one day at the bookstore when I was waiting to meet someone. Last Christmas I was given a copy, but only have recently found time to return to the world of Uncle Screwtape and his nephew, the newbie tempter Wormwood. I've finished the main part of the book and have ten pages left in Screwtape Proposes the Toast, which was written by Lewis much later in his life. Like everything Lewis wrote, the Letters are both enjoyable and thought provoking.
I had planned to borrow my mother's copy of Philip Yancy's the Jesus I Never Knew to read next, but she doesn't know where it is right now. I'm thinking about moving to C.S. Lewis' Miracles next, as a substitute.
4) 5 books that have meant a lot to you.
I'm going to take the Bible out of the running, like Christopher did. Let's see:
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
- the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
- New! Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
- the Orestia by Aeschylus
5) Tag five people that haven’t played yet.
I don't remember seeing this meme elsewhere, other than just now at WIT, so I'm just going by who Christopher tagged as to decide who to avoid.
On the Road Again
I'm heading out for a short trip down to the Ozarks. I need to talk to the Cranium Leakage folks before next time, that way we can meet. I'll be waving as I go by…
See y'all on Friday, after which I'll review Mame and explain what the new features are on asisaid.
MAME
I saw Mame tonight at the Muny. I'm too tired to write anything more about it just now. But, for being so hot, I will say that the light breeze helped a lot. For now, good night.
Testing Some New Features
Does this work right? I hope it does, because everything looks right in the code…
405
You just have to watch this. It is only three minutes long, so don't read the synopsis on the download site before loading it. You can view it in Windows Media Format, QuickTime or MPEG-1 (click Windows Media on the selection page to get to the MPEG version).
Smell the Color 9
I would take “no” for an answer
Just to know I heard You speak
And I'm wonderin' why I've never
Seen the signs they claim they see
Are the special revelations
Meant for everybody by me?
Maybe I don't truly know You
Or maybe I just simply believe 'Cause I can sniff, I can see
I can count up pretty high
But these faculties aren't getting me
Any closer to the sky
But my heart of faith keeps poundin'
So I know I'm doin' fine
But sometimes finding You
Is just like trying to
Smell the color nine
And, for the complete “Music Stuck in Tim's Head” chart for this week:
- Chris Rice - Smell the Color 9 (Smell the Color 9)
- Casting Crowns - Who Am I? (Casting Crowns)
- Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter (O)
- Michael W. Smith - All I Want (Healing Rain)
- Andrew Lloyd Weber - Hosanna (Jesus Christ Superstar)
- Evanescence - Tourniquet (Fallen)
- MercyMe - Spoken For (Spoken For)
- Sixpence None the Richer - There She Goes (Sixpence None the Richer)
- Meredith Wilson - Lida Rose / Will I Ever Tell You? (The Music Man)
- Dido - White Flag (Life for Rent)
Of Large Cats and Fuzzy Penguins
Well, I finally admit it on my public soap box at Open for Business: I'm a Mac user. Read my story of how I ended up using a Mac at OfB.biz. The article is part three in a series of columns on the desktop, beginning with “Debate Without End: KDE and Qt Licensing” and then followed up by “I GNU It”.
