Apple At 30

Tomorrow is a big deal for a lot of people. Okay, perhaps not that many, really. Tomorrow, though, the 1st of April, will mark thirty years of Apple Computers. Those of you who know me are aware of my fondness for Apple. My near constant companion is an Apple eMate, a hopped-up PDA/laptop hybrid that runs the Newton OS. At home, most of my editing is done on a PowerMac 5260/100, an all-in-one Macintosh that is also my office's multimedia center. I also have two PowerBooks (a 540c and a 5300cs), an iBook (an original Clamshell, tangerine in color), a Macintosh Portable (Apple's first attempt at a portable computer... it weighs 15 pounds), two compact Macs, the form that introduced the computer series back in 1984 (a Plus and an SE FD/HD), a Centris 650AV (the AV? Audio/Video), an indentical PowerMac 6100/66AV and a currently dead PowerMac 8600. Oh, plus another eMate, plus two non-working units. And my oldest Apple, a //c.
That's a lot of computers. And I love them.
But they're just computers! There's nothing else to them accept PCB boards, intergrated circuits, glass, plastic, epoxy, gold traces, wires and silicon. They are as alive as the desk on which they reside!
There is something that is inherently attractive about Apple's products, though. Good design comes to mind. Sturdiness is another. Well made. Think Rolls Royce, or maybe Mercedes (pre Chrysler). But the design... these aren't just computers.
Way back in 1977, when Apple released the first Apple ]['s (yes, that's one of the ways we Apple enthusiast write "II", for the older units), they didn't look like computers. Well, yes and no. Most computers of that time period were hobbyist machines. They were metal cabinets with switches a'plenty up front, many had LED's flashing in sequence that seemed to indicate activity. They were decidedly unattractive. Apple changed that. Their first Apple ]['s were housed in attractive beige/tan housings whose only light was a power indicator. The keyboard was built in, and video was acheived through a plug on the back. Another thing that these machines had was expansion capabilities; in other words, slots. In fact, pretty much everything that we take for granted in modern machines could be found in these computers. And they weren't ugly. They were actually pleasant looking, and could be at home in your home. Seven years later, the first Macintoshes were even more pleasant looking.
Thirty years later, home computers are ubiquitous. We can't imagine life without them, it seems. One of the reasons for this had to do with two college dropouts who decided to tilt against windmills and share their vision of a computer for the masses.
So, to Steve Jobs and Steve "the Woz" Wozniak... many thanks!

Subtle Lessons, Major Truths

What a weekend.
Sometimes, the Lord our God decides that you need to learn in subtle ways. I've always tried to learn by observation... perhaps I should rephrase that, I attempt to learn by observation; it's a conceit to say that I've always done that. Like many of us, I've tried to learn in ways that were perhaps abrupt. But just like trying to catch the wind in a jar, we miss the point. To learn, we need to pay attention. Sometimes, the truth is hiding in the subtleties.
Not this weekend.
It started when I feared that someone in my family was ill. My family means the world to me. It was not for a lack of faith in God that I worried. It is speculated that perhaps I worry for the novelty of worrying. That is to say that I simply worry. Thus began the lessons to be learned.
It can be said that our faith can carry us, and this time it did. I needed to learn that. But that was not the only lesson, merely the first. And it was a big one.
The next lessons had to deal with pride and importance. For this weekend I discovered that I am a know-it-all.
It is easy when one has a little bit of intelligence to do what we think right, to share it. Can this be done in a manner that is neither boastful nor loud? I think so. Pity. There is a fine line that separates the good from the bad there, however. What I discovered is that it is very easy to go on doing what we perceive as important, when in fact it's just mental jetsam and flotsam. A lot of what I've perceived as important is just that. In fact, it's only important to me.
(Does this mean these little essays will stop? Probably not; you can always choose to ignore them).
Jesus beseeches us to be humble. You can teach and share and be humble. After all, to what purpose does it serve to be otherwise? This was a major theme that runs throughout the Gospels, and one that was handed down to me not once but thrice today. It started when I checked my email this morning. I receive daily "Sayings of Jesus", and today, it was Matthew 6:5-18, part of the Sermon on the Mound. It really wasn't necessary to read it again, as I could tell the chapter and verses simply by reading the subject line. Still, I had to, and the lesson in humility was a good. The lessons of the day were just starting, however.
At service, we covered the presentation of the Ten Commandments, Jesus driving the merchants from the temple and Paul writing about the laws and sin. It was the sermon of our main parish priest, Rev. Jim McCaslin, that really started to draw connections back to my email. As he spoke at length about the all that was read, and tied it all together in such a way that it was very easy to see that, yes, even an entire church can stumble and fall. Human arrogance. Human pride. We know better than He, it seems. Do not fool yourselves. Not for one second.
This all then tied together with my reading of Ecclesiastes.
What lesson did I garner from this?
That it is very easy to let ourselves be too boastful, too proud and too convinced in our own minds of our self-proclaimed importance. After all, who knows how much better, how much smarter, we are than ourselves?
If we really feel that way, then why share it? Is it to His glory... or our vanity?
It would be a lie to say that I've been humble. I'll be the first to say, most unequivocally, that I'm as human as any of us, and that I am someone who likes to boast, if even "modestly". And I do it to bolster up my own, fragile psyche. You see, in the end, it doesn't matter how smart or how dumb or how rich or how poor I am. What matters most is how I interact with my fellow humans. Have I been kind? Have I helped? Have I been there? Most important, have I simply shut my mouth and listened? Many times, I haven't. It doesn't make me a bad or evil person, it simply makes me human.
Still, I've no doubt stepped on toes, as I'm sure others have. The words of the Sermon on the Mound weren't just suggestions, they were the words of Christ and were there to help not only to save our souls, but to save and inspire others. After all, humans learn best by example.
So, I guess that I needed that little wake up call. It took seeing me from the outside to get a good glimpse of what needed to change on the inside.
God works in mysterious ways. Just sometimes not necessarily subtle ones.

Consider The Dandelion

You really want to just classify them as weeds. Dandelions. Okay, they aren't the most attractive plants in the world. But when they flower, they wear a bloom that is very pretty, even beautiful in its own way. And they are stubborn. And persistent.
This little plant really makes its appearance known this time of the year. Usually, we're grumbling about them working their way up through cracks in our driveways and sidewalks. If you have a healthy lawn, they can really take off. But they come nonetheless. There are a few fields out there that are literally covered with them. They aren't readily apparent at first, but here in Florida with the coming of March, the fields explode into a sea of yellow flowers. This from a plant that we deride as a weed.
True, we don't want them in our yards. When they aren't in bloom, they aren't attractive. They can do damage in unintentional ways, namely by blocking sunlight from reaching smaller plants. Still, they are wonderful plants. And they are ever so persistent. Especially when they go to seed. That wonderful little globe that we so often picked as children and blew on was aiding this plant's reproductive cycle. We didn't know any better, we just loved instead to watch the little seeds parachute down... or up, to be carried off by the winds to any and everywhere.
We are not unlike the dandelion, really. Perhaps we should be more like them, in fact. Think again about how this little perennial pushes its way through even the smallest crack. There's a moral for you. They do not let the tightest situation keep them from living, from doing what they do best. And we should send our gifts a'flying, like those dandelion seeds, floating upon the winds of chance to grow and thrive.

The Barest Of Necessities

What do we need to live? Really? Think about it for a minute. What are the bare necessities that we, as humans, need?
From a strictly biological standpoint, we need food, water and oxygen, the same as any other living creature on the planet. Can we get away with that? Can modern humans subsist on the barest of necessities? We can, but we'll revisit that in a moment. Let's look at what "modern" humans need and perceive as essential - food, water, oxygen (pointless to even bring that one up, since it requires the least amount of work to obtain), shelter and clothing. The last two items there are where the differences from the rest of the animal kingdom emerge, what makes us human. There are millions of humans living in with just those right now, and many of them are thriving. For thousands of years, in fact, that's how humanity survived. Fortunately, one of these items tends to be a once in a while concern; clothing. Only the roughest amongst us needs to worry about them on a daily basis. Shelter can be anything, though. Sounds harsh, but it's true. Again, we'll touch on that again.
Today, though, in and amongst "modern" society, we need more. Add to our list electricity. How do we get along without that?
Perhaps we should ask members of some religious sects such as the Amish, or perhaps those who have chosen a lifestyle off the grid. In the past 100 years, the vast majority of modern cultures have grown dependent on electricity and what it provides. If you've gone camping for more than a week (truly roughing it), you really wind up missing those "creature" comforts that we "modern" humans have accustomed. But 100 years is still nothing compared with how long humanity has walked this planet.
Yet that one item has become our saving grace. Our ancestors relied on fresh food, either grown by them or picked up for consumption usually that day. In days gone by, meat could not be stored unless it was cured. If you wanted fresh, you either walked to the butcher... or you did it yourself. True, the invention of the icebox in the 19th century made it easier to store perishables, but generally only the wealthy could afford them... and their associated upkeep.
Society has also changed to the point where these more "primitive" lifestyles are generally unacceptable. So, aside from some religious groups and diehards, our new list of bare necessities looks like this -
Food & Water (they share equal billing)
Shelter
Clothing
Electricity
Now that we've gotten it down to four items, you might ask "what about transportation?" Do you really need to own a car? Millions of people in some of our largest cities don't; they walk, ride the bus or mass transit. That's all the transportation they need. If you have children, this might be a problem, though, or if you live out in the suburbs with their usually illogical layout (there are many suburbs that are literally miles from the nearest store. Try being a hunter/gatherer there, I'm sure your neighbors will appreciate that). If you're rural, yes, you need transportation. We can add that to our list.
How about entertainment? You know, cable, satellite? Ask your parents, or their parents. How could people survive without these? Well, they did... and probably did just as well. Same can be said for things like the Internet. Yes, I will admit, I am just as hooked as most to it, but I've also accepted that I didn't have it for the first couple of decades of my life. Some of these things can be supplied for free in most communities, thanks to a marvelous, and I might add old, invention known as a library card.
Communications? Really optional. If you live in the same area as friends and family, you can always visit them. We'll put it on the list, though, after transportation.
We do not need really anymore than that to live in modern society. But we've convinced ourselves that we cannot live without a daily bombardment of television, computer games, Internet, satellite radio. Many of us have buried ourselves under mountains of debt, most of it needless, as a result of pursuing those things that are really unnecessary (and I will admit to doing just that). In the end, you just need to look at that list, and the order in which everything is listed. You will always need food and water, it has to be on top. You have to have shelter, especially if you have a family. Clothing isn't really a constant consumable and doesn't have to be replaced with reckless abandon, regardless of what the dictates of modern fashion insist upon. You can live without electricity, but you can't live without the preceding items. Unless you live a lifestyle where you don't need electricity, though, trying to live without it for too long imposes a whole new set of problems. And so forth.
That's how I look at life, and that's the order I tend to put the necessities. Everything else isn't really necessary.
Now, let's touch bases on a few things mentioned early on in this; what are the barest of necessities? Ask a homeless person. How do they exist? Trust me, many of them are not alcoholics or the mentally ill. There are a lot of people out there who are just the victims of the harsh blows of circumstance. Many of them have still managed to hold on to their dignity, however, and make do with the least this world has to offer. Eventually, they climb up out of that pit to rejoin "society". But the trip can be a long and arduous one. For them, every penny gathered during that climb is like gold.
Remember that the next time you worry yourself sick over how to pay your cable bill, or afford those new shoes or buy that new television. There are people out there who make do everyday with the barest of necessities. They are the ones who are really struggling.

Listen To The Mockingbirds

Yesterday morning, as I was leaving our local Golden Corral (I must admit that I fell victim to the siren song that is its breakfast), I spotted a mockingbird flying low over the parking lot, singing the whole way. If you're not familiar with this flying cacophony, let me tell you a little about them, at least from a scientific viewpoint.
Mimus polyglottos. Gray and white, native to a rather large portion of North America, from Florida north into parts of Canada, with the heaviest concentrations along the southern and eastern coasts. Not very big, no larger than 8" usually. But what they lack in size they make up for in behavior. And what behavior! Let's move away from the biological now.
The mockingbird is one of the few birds I have seen that doesn't miss a beat once it takes to wing. It starts a song at one point, flies to another, and the song doesn't sound interupted. Usually, they create their own little songs; they don't "mock" all the time, they don't have to. In my travails, I've noticed that they might have regional dialects. The species has been aggressively moving into New England now for the past couple of decades, and their song sounds markedly different than members in south Florida (can't say the same for the human species, though; some south Floridians sound like displaced New Yorkers, which in many cases they are).
What I observed yesterday, though, was interesting. I've studied mockingbirds for a long time, but only as someone who finds their antics fascinating. After all, here is a little bird that seems to have no natural enemies. It will attack birds and animals many times its own size. That's bravery... or chutzpah. But yesterday, I was noticing the song.
This little character didn't skip a beat as he flew from the rooftop to a fence to a sweetgum. His song was a mixture of mockingbird, with its requisite whistles and clicks, and other birds. This is where it gets unusual. A cardinal flew by, all a chatter, and suddenly the mockingbird started doing cardinal. Just a couple of measures of a cardinal's mating song. Again, the mockingbird returned to its native tongue.
As it flew to a sweetgum tree next to a retention pond, it started doing the chatter of a redwing blackbird. Almost on cue, a blackbird emerged from the cattails and landed nearby the mockingbird. Did the mockingbird even know what it was saying? Doubtful. But whatever it was, the blackbird didn't sound too amused. Our little mimic flew away to a scrawny pine and started doing its usual song... and threw in an osprey's cry.
This was all very amusing, but then I noticed... it was telling a story of its area. The cardinals must pass through quite a bit in order for him to pick their voice. Obviously, he spent a lot of time in this area, near the retention pond and the blackbirds. And less than a quarter mile away, a mating pair of osprey had built a large nest on a cell tower.
The mockingbird's song reflected its life. It was a miniature saga; "This is who I am, and in my area are cardinals, black birds and osprey." What else it was saying is a complete mystery, but by copying others in its little neck of the woods, it was telling about its life.
What can this teach us?
God made us incredibly complicated. Like the mockingbird, though, often times we say and do things that reveal not so much who we are, but what we do, the company we keep and the things we see and hear. It is really a human trait to want to fit into our environment, and as a result, we tend to mimic. Everything we watch, read, hear... it plays a role in shaping who we are and what we do. In short, our behavior. And in turn, we effect others in the same way. It is a fallacy to think otherwise.
There is wisdom in the old adage "think good thoughts". Perhaps it's not just the thinking we should be doing good. Perhaps in our own little way, we are not unlike mockingbirds.

A Poem, A Song & Ecclesiastes

For the last week, I've been reading Ecclesiastes as part of my Lenten season Bible study. As I read it, two things come to mind, a poem and a song.
The poem is "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. For those unfamiliar with this little sonnet...

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Now, contrast that with the song, "Dust In The Wind" by Kansas...

I close my eyes
Only for a moment, then the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Now, don't hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
The wind

This is a theme that recurs throughout Ecclesiastes; all that we do in this life is at best temporary, no more than a lifetime. In fact, Kerry Livgren and the members of Kansas were building the song around that book, and it is far less subtle than the Shelley poem, which deals mainly with human arrogance. Still, the point remains.
If all of this is true, then what is the point? To make the best of what time we have, to do so with humility and modesty and the understanding that this life is short. It doesn't matter whether you live less than a decade or you become a centenarian, we all suffer the same fate. Do not be too boastful and proud, for you will die just as the most meek among us.
Yet as grim an outlook as this is, it should serve to remind us that God wants for us to love one another and help one another make it through this life. Here, in this world, ultimately, we are all we physically have. Money is meaningless. Power is meaningless. Life... that's important. That's the most valuable thing we possess. Life... and time. The two are inexorably tied together, and one should not waste either.
Everything is dust in the wind. Nothing beside remains.
"For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his life, which he passes like a shadow?" Ecclesiastes 6:12.

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You - More Christian Bashing!

Yesterday (for those of you keeping track, that'd be 5th March, 2006), Tracie and I went to the movies, sort of a weekly ritual. Sometimes, the movies are good. Other times (too often), they aren't. Yesterday's movie fell into a chasm between the two, and for good reason. But I'll get back to that in a moment.
Before the movie, they showed a trailer for "Stay Alive", a horror film set to open in the next few weeks. The premise; there's this computer game, and once you start playing it, you're fate is linked to that of your character. This is role playing taken to the next level. As the trailer played, it showed some very interesting statistics.
- Right now, there are roughly 100 million people in America involved in computer games. That number might be a little on the high end, but it certainly seems close to numbers I've read elsewhere.
- 25% of these people are addicted to games. Given that you have a 1 in 4 chance of becoming addicted to anything... again, pretty close to reality.

That a movie would be made about computer online gaming being a vicious virtual reality tied to reality should have seemed obvious. Sooner or later, real life and Hollywood cross paths. Or is it that Hollywood likes to shape reality. Which brings me to the main thrust of this little essay.

The movie we saw was "Ultraviolet", starring that frequently-seen-in-this-genre

-actress Milla Jovovich. It dealt with a future (and I might really add alternate) Earth where society has been ravaged by some virus that has turned a significant chunk of the populace into hemophages; basically vampires. Our heroine is one of these. But that's not what bothered me. It wasn't the plot (very much graphic novel inspired), nor the effects (surely generated by the same software that generates much seen in higher end games). No, it was the Ministry of Health. "Ministry" is the key word here. Once again, Hollywood tied the bad guys to the cross.
The Ministry's symbol was the classic caduceus (the snakes wound around a staff, the accepted symbol of the medical establishment) combined with a cross. The big bad guy was named Vice Cardinal Daxus (played by Nick Chinlund, who, has luck would have it, has also played the scripture-spouting McGivens in the latest "Zorro" movie).
Vice Cardinal. How more blatant can you get?
Hollywood has been assaulting Christianity since at least the 1970's. The assault has been getting worse. Part of an agenda? Some would say yes, I think no... or possibly. Hollywood always wants to think of itself as the nexus of civilization, the great manipulator and shaper of all things fashionable and trendy. It is inhabited by an assortment of folks who fancy themselves intellectuals. Artists but intellectuals. They look in disdain at the older, established cultures, and too often this means religion.
They do not care. If suddenly Christianity became fashionable, they would probably jump on board. Since it isn't, and they really want to impress the elite crowd out there, as well as each other, the religion bashing will continue.
And it will continue until enough people become appalled enough to simply stop buying the stuff.
Am I advocating a boycott of Hollywood? No. But, as a society, we've already become desensitized to the point where violence is meaningless and values merely fashion accessories. If you see something anti-Christian in a film that appalls you, don't be surprised. It's simply what Hollywood passes off as high art. We don't have to buy it.

The Burden of Knowing

When is knowing too much too much?
Last night, I decided that, for this Lenten season, I would pick one book of the Bible to concentrate on, in this case Ecclesiastes. One chapter a night, that's the current plan. Considering how small Ecclesiastes is (12 chapters), that is certainly plenty of time to reflect and ruminate on the words. However, as I read the first chapter of the book, it really seemed to underscore personal beliefs that I tend to carry deep inside; all is vanity. The last verse of the first chapter, though, really stood out; "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow." (1:18).
So it begs the question; When is knowing too much too much?
This touched on so many things that have been on my mind of late, and the Ash Wednesday service seemed to be particularly inspiring as well. For though I attended the service before I read Ecclesiastes 1, the two just seemed to dovetail, especially in reflecting on the words of the pastors as the ash was applied, "remember that you are mortal". Knowledge for knowledge's sake is vanity. What purpose does it serve beyond giving its bearer a feeling of superiority over their peers? I heartily admit to being arrogant as a young man, perhaps pushing away many children my age because of the repellent nature of my being a "know-it-all". And what has it done for me? Aside from my writing and the teaching I do, it seems to instead be a burden. This is when knowing too much begins to hurt.
I can still look at the stars in the night sky and admire their beauty, but a voice in my head can't help but tell me how unreachable they are. Everyday, I go to work with the purpose of wanting to live a modest life, yet a voice in the back of my head keeps reminding me that, statistically speaking, I may have cleared the halfway point in my existence on this plane. There are times it is so very hard for me to make small talk without starting to sound, again, like a "know-it-all". I've always believed that knowledge is power, but too much power is a bad thing. Perhaps too much knowledge is a bad thing, perhaps as bad as the author of Ecclesiastes knew. There are times, though, when it certainly is a burden.