Earth Day with a B

November 28, 2003 on 4:10 pm | In Life Updates, Modern Technology

Today is my birthday. I am 967 years old.

To celebrate, read the ongoing Osama-themed Dr. Seussian poem that Seth and I are writing (as an alternative to seeing Mike Myers’ The Cat in the Hat). (If you read this post too long after Nov 28 2003 and want to find the Osama poem, just check the November archives for Leth & Sex. I can’t link to the start of the poem yet, because it’s being written backwards.)

Anywho, here’s a quick sidebar discussion regarding my thoughts on Apple’s Mail application:

It’s good, but not great. It’s tough to make a great email application. My wife and I both have a common issue — our inboxes get huge, quickly. We eventually go in and delete the older stuff so that the app doesn’t get unwieldy.

At the same time, we each have thousands of MP3s.

This works for me because of the iTunes interface. The iTunes interface is simple: Folders on the left; when we click on a folder, its contents become displayed in the main window. A single item can be in multiple folders on the left; as long as it’s in the main iTunes library, the MP3 can get shoveled into as many ‘playlists’ as you’d like.

It makes sense as you use it. Which is why Apple, with varying success, has given the iTunes interface treatment to other applications, like iPhoto and (sort of) the OS 10.3 Finder.

iTunes makes the best use of the interface, though, thanks to Smart Playlists. At work, I have iTunes for Windows configured to have a Smart Playlist that contains only songs I’ve rated 3 stars or better that haven’t been played in the last 4 days, sorted randomly. The playlist is constantly updated. As songs finish playing, they are instantly removed from the playlist — since they no longer fit in the ‘unplayed’ window. If I’m hearing a song that I don’t think deserves it’s five-star rating, I adjust the rating, and if it falls to two stars or fewer, the song’s removed from the playlist as well. Each day, the playlist adjusts, and I can play that one to hear a steady stream of music I’m always in the mood for that hasn’t been overplayed by my PC.

(Smart Playlists can do more — find all songs of a specific genre, your least played songs, all live music, songs added to your music library in the past X days, etc.)

I want Smart Mailboxes in Mail. My inbox can stay lean and mean, because my Archive Smart Mailbox will contain all messages older than 2 weeks. Smart Mailboxes won’t care which mail account something was delivered to; I can sort mail to my work account or my home account in my ‘Deal With This in December’ Smart Mailbox, and when I go to that mailbox and start replying, Mail handles knowing which address I’m replying from.

Mail.app aficionados out there are thinking that Mail already does most of this. And you’re sort of right. But Mail doesn’t allow Smart Mailboxes yet, which I think would be a very useful feature.

More importantly, Mail has just a couple subtle discrepancies from the iTunes interface — discrepancies which make the feature much less useful in Mail. Namely, I can’t have one message in more than one mailbox at the same time — they are single items which reside in one place. There’s an “On My Mac” Mailbox that’s similar to the iTunes Library, and every message/mp3 is in that ‘master list.’

But in iTunes, Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” can be in my “Soundtracks” playlist, my “Ballads” playlist, and my “Crappy Music I Would Never Stoop To Download Legally Or Otherwise” — and also sits in my Library. In Mail, a new message from cdion@aol.com is in my Inbox, which means it can’t be in the “On My Mac” section. I can file the message into one of my saved folders, which will remove it from the inbox — but only one of those folders. And, for me, is OS 10.3 Panther, the “On My Mac” section is always empty, even when its subfolders hold messages. Oops.

I don’t think Mail needs to be given Apple’s controversial ‘brushed metal’ treatment that takes normal Apple applications and gives them the special feature of looking ugly. The iTunes/iPhoto/Finder interface, however, would serve Mail well. At least for me.

And it’s my birthday, so I’m what matters.

No Comments - post one!
Possibly related posts:
  • The Family Guy
  • From the "we’re-all-gonna-die" department…
  • Countdown and Out
  • More on the Google Calculator
    •

    A Thanksgiving Day Poem

    November 27, 2003 on 3:34 pm | In Funny Internet Things, Things of Amusement to Me

    Today is a day of most fervent Thanks-giving
    So fervent thine young tushies up, my dear friends
    We celebrate life and the great joy of living
    While stuffing ourselves nearly through our rear ends

    Roses are red, violets are blue
    Thanksgiving, in my book, is a stupid holiday

    I don’t like the turkey,
    I wasn’t a pilgrim
    My forecast this Thursday
    Is actually ril’ dim.

    There once was a Thanksgiving poem
    Got family? Well, feel free to show ‘em
    How bad poems can be
    When they’re written by me
    I’m always amused by missed rhymes.

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • My Thanksgiving anthem
  • From the Grab blog: Thanksgiving & Bear City
  • From the Grab blog: My birthday
  • From the Grab blog: I can do whatever I want.
    •

    More on the King of Pop

    November 26, 2003 on 5:50 pm | In Music, News

    Look at the family behind the allegations against Michael.

    If you’re too lazy to click links: The kid himself was arrested a few years back when his father instructed him to shoplift from a store. The family later countersued the store because the store’s security cards hurt the boy as they stopped him mid-crime. And the family WON.

    The father’s been arrested a variety of times.

    The mother’s said repeatedly how great MJ is and how innocent his relatinship with her son is.

    There are some ’salacious’ bits in the article linked to above as well, but the only ones for which factual evidence is referenced are the ones about the family.

    Reached for comment, Michael Jackson told reports, “Sh-mo, Sh-mo, Wooo!”

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • December 2nd, 2002
  • Larry King
  • Village Voice on Weird Al
  • Tato-Masochism
    •

    Now THAT’S a blog.

    November 24, 2003 on 11:39 pm | In Music, The Lex Files

    He gets more readers than I do, just because he can walk backwards rhythmically, rock with you, beat it in a bad and dangerous way, and thinks that — if you’re thinkin’ ’bout bein’ his baby — it don’t matter if you’re black or white.

    Where is the justice?

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • Blog Wars
  • Wedlock, stock, and barrel
  • From the Grab blog: Well, that’s embarassing.
  • From the Grab blog: Some favorites…
    •

    It’s too easy.

    November 24, 2003 on 8:00 pm | In Funny Internet Things

    The world needs Sarah. Because the Internet needs this page of Sarah’s research.

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • September 24th, 2001
  • Attention <I>Saturday Night Live</I>
  • December 23rd, 2001
  • From the Grab blog: Well, that’s embarassing.
    •

    La Vida Logo

    November 23, 2003 on 4:53 pm | In The Lex Files



    You know you want it. And if you don’t want it, you want the long-sleeved version. Or the mug. Or wall clock. Or… just go to the new store.

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • No related posts
    •

    Doctor Sues

    November 21, 2003 on 6:50 am | In Movies

    Would you, could you, see this flick?
    Will Mike Meyers make you sick?
    This reviewer says he will,
    That Cat in the Hat is swill
    The previews do support this claim
    Since the film looks awful lame.

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • Lex goes to the dermatologist
  • I am almost an elite hacker.
  • Osteopretrosis and Osteonecrosis
  • From the Grab blog: Osteopetrosis and Osteonecrosis
    •

    Oaf of Office

    November 18, 2003 on 9:45 pm | In News, Things of Amusement to Me

    “I, Ah-nuld, do solemnly sweauh, and all of deez things, to be a very good governor for duh state of California. I will root out crime by blowing up the bad guys with my futuristic weaponry, all of which causes very minimal collateral damage, which is an interesting coincidence, since it was a minimal number of people who saw duh movie I made called Collateral Damage.

    And hee-uh’s anothuh coincidence to come out of dis Total Recall. California is a real state with real problems and real people with real needs, and now I am ‘actor’ — so to speak — put in charge of this real world situation. It is like the Twilight Zone, only the Twilight Zone is boring and has no explosions and special effects and all of that.

    Anyway, before this speech gets too long, I need to take my hourly dose of steroids and all of this. Before I go, I would like to do a roleplay with the people of California. For duh purpose of this exercise, we will be classical composers. You be Mozart.

    I’ll be Bach.

    No, I’m just kidding and all of these things. Hasta la vista, Davis!”

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • I hate the post office.
  • From the Grab blog: Memo to my office toys.
  • Work
  • I am almost an elite hacker.
    •

    Where There’s A Will, There’s a Ferrell

    November 16, 2003 on 9:08 pm | In Movies, Uncategorized

    Or, Elf Dwarfs Crowe

    Will Ferrell’s Elf trounced the latest piece de crapola from Russell Crowe, CNN reports.

    When movies starring tall funny guys outperform expectations and overpower hyped-up movies from Oscar winners, I have hope.

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • The Will of the Groundlings
  • Am Bush
  • The Sincerest Form of Flattery
  • Things I Want
    •

    Attention Internet Community

    November 15, 2003 on 4:53 pm | In Funny Internet Things, The Lex Files

    I would like to present one of the funniest links on the Internet. But instead, I’m going to point you to a recent screenplay adaptation of The Lex Files starring The Lex Files and various A-List Hollywood Celebrities.

    Too funny.

    No Comments - post one!
    Possibly related posts:
  • Attention Terrorists
  • BTW means “By The Way”
  • How did I live without you, Internet?
  • Google songs
    •
    Next Page »

    Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
    Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^