I’m a burglar, I burgle people

If you’re a Monty Python fan you’ll get the reference in this original Halloween costume.

If you have no idea what’s going on, here’s a transcript of the sketch.

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Then again, if it is on fire…

One of the engineers I used to work with was fond of saying “If it isn’t on fire, it’s a software problem”.

Last night while working diligently away on some wireframes on my MacBook Pro I did a double-take when my power adapter did a little pre-Halloween fireworks show and sent up a small but pungent trail of black smoke.

“What’s that smell?” came the chorus from the kitchen. “Well, family, that’s the smell of the clash between form and function”.

All kidding aside, its a good thing I was working at the kitchen counter - not sure what would have happened had I had the computer in my lap, or sitting on bits of paper on the desk (which it often WAS).

I’d read about supposed issues where the power cord connects to the (MagSafe) magnetic connector, but Apple hasn’t issued a recall and there’s no information about this problem on their web site.

I have Apple Care and they didn’t even hesitate to offer to send a new one out. The first question the service rep asked was “Was there anything else damaged when this happened”.

Fortunately I have a 2nd adapter so I’m not without power - not sure what you’d do if you had to wait the 5-7 working days for a new one to arrive.

More, larger pictures on Flickr.

—-

UPDATE:
Wow!  I got the new replacement power cable via courier today - one day after talking to Apple Care on the phone.  That’s impressive !

r

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Down for the Count with Leopard

Trick or Treat - it’s Leopard !

Here’s what’s borked on my Mac with the Leopard upgrade (that I’m aware of) :

• Some Flash upload sites - I use Slide Show Pro’s cms (which is awesome) and it uses a Flash interface to upload photos. That function stops working with Leopard. Work around is FTP (which dulls the convenience of a CMS somewhat) or using Windows. Adobe doesn’t mention anything on their site about issues with Flash, but the SSP folks say Adobe is aware of the problem.
• Almost all my Alien Skin PhotoShop plug ins. No work around, crashes PS if you try to apply the filter. Alien Skin claims it’ll be December before they fix. Damn, no more goofy Gel Filters for a while.
• AutoFX stand-alone, the apps don’t even launch. The plug-ins never worked with CS3 on Tiger so maybe they’ll fix the lot, but then again, maybe not. No mention on their web site.

There’s a very thorough review of Leopard on Ars Technica and couldn’t agree more with their review of the changes to the interface.

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Organic is Better

They don’t just taste better. A new UK study finds that organic foods are more nutritious…

They found that organic fruit and vegetables contained up to 40% more antioxidants than non-organic varieties. Levels of antioxidants in organic milk were up to 90% higher than in milk from conventional herds. Medical experts believe antioxidants can reduce the risk of cancer and coronary heart disease. Full story here

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Leopard - network share GOOD !

Ok, Leopard is impressing me with its refined ability to find shared drives and machines. We still have a couple of Windows boxes running on our home network, and sharing was always a bit spotty. Leopard seems to have sorted that out nicely, and I’m seeing drives on the other machines that I had given up trying to connect with.

So. GOOD GOOD GOOD and super useful in our setup.

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Leopard - not so much

Here’s my mini review. This is only after a few hours of use on the MacBook Pro and our household iMac .

1. eye candy, pure and simple. there isn’t ONE new function I really need, but it all look sweet.

2. slow baby, slow. one of the things I loved about my macbook vs. my sony vaio (PC) laptop was how fast the macbook boots. well my friend, leopard is a pig, at least on my machine, and I’ve got 4 gig of ram. maybe things will improve? but so far, my mac seems to be starting very window-esque. this might not be a big deal on a desktop machine, but in a laptop its critical. (There is a thread here about this - so I guess, just like with a windows box, I now have to start hacking my way through a NEW OS so that the machine runs properly. Hmmm, deja vu.)

3. is there a revert button on this thing?

If want you really want are a bunch of new effects in PhotoBooth, parental controls (probably easily side stepped), a different way to share machines and do backups (apple claims easier) and more things swooshing across the screen, then this is for you.

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Must See - The Goat

If you’re in the Vancouver area, you have to go see The Goat or Who Is Sylvia at Presentation House in North Vancouver.

It opened last night and only has a 2 week run.

This is Edward Albee’s Tony award winning play, featuring top Vancouver actors. It’s theatre as it should be - sharp, challenging, surprising, tender, and shocking.

This Tony Award winning play by a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright has never been done in Vancouver before - GO!

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